imismm "B5535 
 *£5 
 
 .^_ 
 
Wit # humor 
 
 OF THE 
 
 * * 
 
 '■''>- * ' ♦ 
 
 Bible. 
 
 A LITERARY STUDY. 
 
 Rev. Marion 1). Shutter, D. D. 
 
 Bibles laid open; millions of surprises. " — Herbert. 
 
 BOSTON, MASS., 
 
 Brena publishing Company, 
 
 COPLEY BQUABE. 
 
 1893. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 189*, 
 
 BY 
 
 MARION I). SHUTTER. 
 
 AH rights reserved. 
 
 ^Rren^Pres^ 
 
BeMcatton. 
 
 To MV WIFE, 
 
 Mart Wilkinson* Shutter. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 While " many have taken in hand to set forth in order" 
 the pathos and sublimity of the "Bible, those literary elements 
 comprised under the title of this book have rarely been 
 mentioned. Feeling that here was afield untraversed, the 
 author of this little volume began an investigation whose 
 results were originally embodied in an article published 
 some years ago in an Eastern review. That article is given 
 in " Poole's Index " as the only one extant upon the subject. 
 Since its publication, additional study has brought to light 
 other examples of the use of Wit and Humor by the writers 
 of the Bible. These later results were embodied in a course 
 of lectures delivered last winter before the students of 
 Lombard University, Galesbnrg, 111. They are now given to 
 the public in the present volume. It would be presumptuous 
 to claim that these few pages exhaust the subject. Such a 
 claim the author does not wish to make. Further research 
 would no doubt bring to light instances that have escaped 
 him. It is hoped, however, that these studies may be 
 sufficiently complete to awaken interest in a long-neglected 
 side of our sacred literature. 
 
 MARION' 1). SHUTTER. 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn., Dec. 24, 1892. 
 First Universalist Church. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 "There is still one question before, us. If humor be 
 what Ave have claimed for it, not a mere farce, but the 
 depicting of the whole of human life, then we should 
 expect that the highest literature should be found to 
 contain it. We should expect to find it everywhere; 
 that it should satisfy all that desire which a reading in 
 theology, or philosophy, or science, or history, or a study 
 in art, has created in man. Are there, then, any great 
 books, or still more any great forces in human life which 
 seem devoid of it ? Is there any humor in the gospels ? 
 This is a dilemma that must be faced ; for if humor be 
 life itself, how can human life in its highest development 
 dispense with it?" — Shorthouse. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 "Even St. Paul could invent and enjoy a humorous pun ; 
 the proof of which see Galatians V: 12, in the original; so 
 there is high authority for jesting." — Kirke. 
 
 The title of this book will no doubt affect 
 many persons unpleasantly at first. "Flat 
 blasphemy ! " I can hear some one exclaim, 
 w AVe have already had the authority of the 
 Bible undermined by critics, and here is a 
 flippant rogue who goes still farther, and 
 assures us that it is nothing more than a 
 jest-book! This is the very climax and cul- 
 mination of godless folly." 
 
 The author makes haste, therefore, to 
 disclaim any intention of irreverence. To 
 cheapen or degrade sacred things, to 
 "depreciate the moral currency," is at the 
 farthest remove from his intention. It is easy 
 enough to take the language of Scripture 
 and use it for coarse and vulgar purposes, 
 and such use deserves the severest censure. 
 Tt is not to be tolerated. Passages that 
 
 (i) 
 
2 trait an£> t)umor of tbe JSible. 
 
 have been light and guidance to multitudes, 
 that have brought strength to the tempted, 
 certainty to the doubting and consolation to 
 the bereaved; that have heenbreadof life 
 to those who have hungered for righteous- 
 ness, inspiration to the purposeless and help 
 to the needy, — have been turned into 
 sources of merriment to freshen exhausted 
 wit, and season the insipid discourse of 
 stupidity. Persons whose brains are barren 
 of pleasant conceits find no difficulty in so 
 perverting a Scriptural expression as to 
 make the "groundlings" laugh. In no such 
 motives has this volume originated. The 
 title has been chosen and the work which it 
 covers has been done in the spirit of one 
 who loves the Great Book, and who would 
 secure for it an additional claim upon human 
 affection. The studies of the writer have 
 led him into fresh fields and pastures green, 
 where he has gathered many things out of 
 the ordinary that have given the Bible a 
 larger place in his own heart. 
 
 Nbj the Bible is not a collection of jests; 
 nor do we characterize it as a jest-book when 
 we say that it contains Wit and Humor. 
 
fntrobuctors. 3 
 
 These elements are in the Bible, and with 
 good reason. They are not introduced to 
 amuse. They are not intended to dissipate 
 the weariness of an idle hour. They are not 
 designed to produce convulsions of laugh- 
 ter. They are subsidiary to the main theme. 
 They are incidental to the development of 
 religious history and religious thought. 
 They help reveal in their true light the 
 characters who from time to time appear; 
 they show the absurdity of the opposing 
 error and sharpen the arrows with which 
 folly is transfixed. They enhance in many 
 ways the value and power of our Sacred 
 Book. 
 
 I. 
 
 The Scripture documents may be viewed 
 from several standpoints; — historical, ex- 
 egetical, theological and literary. One may, 
 for example, study the book of Job to find 
 out the actual basis of fact that underlies it, 
 or for the purpose of ascertaining and sys- 
 tematizing its doctrines, or he may read it as 
 a great dramatic poem, and criticize it by 
 the rules that would apply to any other 
 
4 lixatt anfc f)umot of tbe Bible. 
 
 dramatic poem. He may go through 
 
 the Apocalypse, grammar and lexicon in 
 hand, or he may study its flashing imagery 
 as he would that of any other magnificent 
 work of genius. He may read the Psalms 
 as he "would the odes of Horace. In these 
 pages the Scriptures are considered simply 
 as Literature. The question of inspiration 
 or authority does not enter. Doctrinal in- 
 quiries are set aside. ' f To understand," 
 says Matthew Arnold, f ' that the language 
 of the Bible is fluid, passing, literary, is the 
 first step towards a right understanding of 
 the Bible:' 
 
 The literary character of the Bible is 
 admirably set forth in the following para- 
 graph from a recent critic : 
 
 4 'As a particular book, the Bible is an unequaled 
 source of literary inspiration. As a book of religious 
 truth, it is supreme ; but religious truth, without any im- 
 pairment of its value or obscurity of its meaning, may be 
 studied from the literary standpoint ; in fact, in the light 
 of literary criticism, or tested by the usual canons of the 
 scholar, it will appear more sacred, more beautiful, more 
 divine. Never forgetting that it is our manual of religion, 
 it is also the vehicle of the most wonderful literature in 
 human annals, and precedes in importance all others. 
 
Introductory. 5 
 
 There is no book so composite in character and yet so 
 harmonious in plan, so multiplex in styles and yet so 
 educational in rhetoric and logic, so varied in contents 
 and yet so progressive in its philosophy and religion, as 
 the Bible. Taken as a whole, it is massive, comprehen- 
 sive, a revelation of the Infinite. Studied in its parts, it 
 stimulates single faculties while it ministers nourishment 
 to the whole frame. Its histories are more compact than 
 those of Herodotus, Gibbon or Macaulay ; its poetry, 
 whose key is a mystery, quiets Homer, Shakespeare and 
 Tennyson ; its prophecies are unique climaxes of wisdom, 
 both in drapery and substance ; its biographies excel 
 those of Plutarch, Irving, Carlyle and Boswell ; its 
 chronicles of wars are superior to those of Julius Caesar, 
 Wellington, Napoleon, and Ulysses Grant; its epistles 
 eclipse those of Pliny, Madame Sevigne and Francis 
 Bacon; its laws, in their ethical and spiritual import, are 
 quite beyond Justinian, Blackstone and the English 
 Parliament. Every phasis of literature, every norm of 
 wisdom, is in the Bible. It ministers to all tastes and 
 arouses the slumbering intellects of all who can compre- 
 hend the difference between reality and fiction, and who 
 incline to virtue rather than vice. Ruskin confesses his 
 indebtedness to the Bible, Homer and Sir Walter Scott, 
 for his mental discipline ; Charles Keade pronounces the 
 characters in Scripture a literary marvel. Matthew 
 Arnold daily read the New Testament in Greek for its 
 stvle ; Milton could not have written Paradise Lost with- 
 out Genesis ; Renan'a witchery of style i- traceable to the 
 New Testament. Job has taught the poets the art of 
 
6 mit anfc Ibumor of tbc .Bible. 
 
 construction, and David has sung an undying melody into 
 the ears of the race. The Book of Ruth is the model 
 idyl, and the Books of Esther and Daniel abound in in- 
 comparable dramatic elements ; Isaiah has plumed the 
 statesman for oratorical flights ; Jeremiah has opened the 
 fountains of pathos and sentiment in pathetic souls ; 
 Ezekiel has furnished a usable style of judicial denuncia- 
 tion for the criminal lawyer. Of all books, whether 
 rhetoric, logic, vocabulary, poetry, philosophy, history, 
 or whatever be the end, the Bible should be first and 
 most carefully studied, its literary spirit and form should 
 be closely traced and discerned, and its truth should be 
 reverently incorporated into the daily speech, thought and 
 life." 
 
 But in this summary there is no mention 
 made of the literary qualities which it is 
 here proposed to consider. They are as 
 completely ignored as if the very sugges- 
 tion of their presence were profanation. 
 
 II. 
 
 The presumption is that in such a book, 
 or rather collection of books as the Bible, 
 the elements of Wit and Humor would be 
 found. We have here the best historical, 
 poetical, and moral works of a whole peo- 
 
fntroftuctorg. 7 
 
 pie. These documents cover in time more 
 than a millennium and a half. It is more 
 than probable that during that time amus- 
 ing incidents occurred, even in connection 
 with the religious trend of the history, some 
 of which would be reported; that grotesque 
 and odd characters existed, some of whom 
 would be described, and their sayings and 
 doings noted; that among the moral teach- 
 ers of the people, there were some at least, 
 who would point their precepts with wit 
 and edge their rebukes with sarcasm. We 
 should expect to find all these thin--. 
 as we should expect to find pathos or sub- 
 limity. The humorous is just as legitimate 
 in literature and quite as much an element 
 of influence. It glows in all the other great 
 books which have shaped the life and 
 thought of mankind; and it is only fair to 
 presume that we shall find its light shining 
 from those pages that have been most 
 potent of all. 
 
 But is not "the volume of this book" a 
 serious one? Is it not profoundly in ear- 
 nest? Are not its themes most solemn? 
 Is not its purpose the highest under heaven, 
 
8 uw an& fmmot of tbe ftiblc. 
 
 the most important t<> the inhabitants of 
 earth? The conclusion, however, that the 
 questioner has in mind is by no means 
 inevitable. It is a mistake to suppose that 
 humor is incompatible with seriousness, ear- 
 nestness and solemnity. "As in one of my 
 lectures," says Henry Reed, 'T spoke of 
 attempting to draw too precise a line 
 around sacred literature, making it too 
 much a tiling apart, so in regard to the 
 literature of wit and humor. I shall he 
 very sorry, if such a title as that which I 
 have been obliged to use, led any one to 
 think of it as of a more distinctive exist- 
 ence than is the case, instead of regarding 
 those faculties as pervading the literature 
 in various degrees, and thus forming some 
 of the elements of its life. I shall have 
 occasion to trace these elements in close 
 connection with elements of tragedy, and 
 to show how the processes we generalize 
 under the names of wit and humor are kin- 
 dred with the most intense passion and the 
 deepest feeling." 
 
 In human nature, the sources of laughter 
 and tears lie close together, and the high- 
 
Introductory 9 
 
 est literature must express that nature in 
 its entirety. "It is an understood fact," 
 says Whipple, "that mirth is as innate in 
 the mind as any other original faculty. 
 The absence of it in individuals or commu- 
 nities is a defect." "He who laughs," says 
 the mother of Goethe, "can commit no 
 deadly sin." If it be true as Whipple says, 
 that the absence of mirth in individuals or 
 communities is a defect, then is the absence 
 of it in literature likewise a defect. It is 
 a defect because the literature which omits 
 it fails to set forth all that there is in man. 
 It leaves an important territory unexplored. 
 On the other hand, the literature which 
 is designed to move and mold men must be 
 addressed to human nature in its complete- 
 ness. Freighted with destiny, charged with 
 eternity as are the messages of the Bible, 
 they are yet intended to impress men ; they 
 are addressed to human faculties in human 
 speech. Whatever the capacities of lan- 
 guage for touching the heart and operating 
 upon the will, they may all be employed, 
 though the theme soar to heaven or take 
 hold on hell. The Bible is not an instru- 
 
1 -emit an<> Ibumor of tbc JGible. 
 
 ment of a single string; it gives forth a 
 thonsand harmonies. It is attuned to every 
 note in human nature. 
 
 III. 
 
 Thus far we have simply dealt with the 
 presumption. The considerations advanced 
 show us what we might expect to find. 
 When we proceed from presumption to 
 actual investigation, our conjectures are 
 verified. There are certainly passages in 
 the Bible which in any other writings Ave 
 should call "Wit and Humor. Since this is 
 the case, our discussion is legitimate, how- 
 ever repugnant the very suggestion may be 
 to the feelings with which we are accus- 
 tomed to regard the Bible. 
 
 Let us take some examples. If we found 
 in any other book such a saving as this, 
 tf Dead flies cause the ointment of the 
 apothecary to send forth a stinking savor, 
 so doth a little folly him that is in great 
 reputation for wisdom and honor," should 
 we not call it witty? Is it not witty as the 
 "Russian proverb "A spoonful of tar in a 
 barrel of honey?" 
 
Introductory. n 
 
 Or consider such sentences as the follow- 
 ing: "All the labor of a man is for his 
 mouth, and yet his appetite is not filled. 1 ' 
 "As lie that taketh away a garment in cold 
 weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he 
 that singeth songs to a heavy heart." 
 "Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but 
 afterwards his mouth shall be filled with 
 gravel/' " He that answereth a matter 
 before he heareth it, it is folly and shame 
 unto him." "A man of great wrath shall 
 suffer punishment ; for if thou deliver him, 
 yet must thou do it again." In other words, 
 a man of violent temper is always getting 
 into difficulties; you have no sooner helped 
 him out of one than he madly plunges into 
 another. Like the irascible person in the 
 old nursery rhyme, who jumped into a 
 bramble bush and scratched out both his 
 eyes, he is no sooner extricated, than 
 "with all his might and main, he jumps 
 into another bush and puts them out 
 again." " Can a man take fire in his bosom 
 and his clothes not be burned? Can 
 he go upon hot coals and his feet not be 
 burned?" "Wealth makes many friends. 
 
12 •unit and Ibumor of tbe .ifitblc. 
 
 but the poor is separated from his neighbor." 
 "He that passeth by and meddleth with 
 
 strife belonging not to him, is like one 
 that taketh a dog by the ears." If Ave came 
 upon such sentences in Johnson or Gold- 
 smith, we should say in a moment that 
 they were instances of genuine wit. Let us 
 not hesitate to carry the same frankness of 
 literary judgment to the Bible. When 
 Isaiah characterizes certain ones as " mighty 
 to drink wine and men of strength to mingle 
 strong drink," does he not use essentially 
 the same reproach that Prince Hal fastened 
 upon Falstaff, " Wherein is he good but to 
 taste sack and drink it?" Who shall say 
 that the earlier satire did not suggest the 
 later? Much has been written about Shake- 
 speare's indebtedness to the Bible. 
 
 Here is a passage of biting sarcasm from 
 Job. We should surely call it sarcasm if 
 Ave found it in the pages of Robert South. 
 Job is expressing his scorn for those who 
 affect to look doAvn upon him in his adver- 
 sities: "But uoav they that are younger 
 than I have me in derision, Avhose fathers I 
 would have disdained to set with the dogs of 
 
Introductory. 18 
 
 my Hock." They are "the children of fools, 
 yea, children of base men, they were viler 
 than the earth." (We have an equivalent 
 expression in "meaner than dirt.") They arc 
 members of the long-eared fraternity. He 
 docs not say so in the bluntest form of ex- 
 pression that can he used, and that any one 
 less skillful would have used. Job jouts it 
 much more effectively : w Among the bushes 
 they brayed; under the nettles they were 
 gathered together.'' r If that is not wit," says 
 one, "there is no such thing as wit. And 
 yet the commentators do not see it, or will 
 not see it. They are perfectly wooden 
 when they come to any such gleam of 
 humor." 
 
 There is a bit of ridicule in Jeremiah that 
 we should be quick to call ridicule, if we 
 came upon it elsewhere. He is describing 
 the disasters that fell upon the allies of 
 the King of Egypt. " ^Vhy are the strong 
 ones swept away? They stood not because 
 the Lord did thrust them down. He made 
 them to stumble, yea they fell one upon 
 another; and they said, Arise, and let us go 
 again to our own people, and to the land of 
 
14 m\t and Ibumor of tbe JBtble. 
 
 our nativity, from the oppressing sword." 
 They are defeated in spite of all the 
 promises of the King of Egypt. He does 
 not seem to avail them. His boasts arc in- 
 effectual. His disgusted allies depart, 
 flinging at him the withering reproach, 
 n Pharoah, King of Egyijt, is out a noise; 
 he hath let the appointed time pass by." 
 That is to say, according to one paraphrase, 
 w Pharoah is of no account now, he has had 
 his chance and lost it; he has outlived his 
 influence; his day is over; he is not a sov- 
 ereign any longer; he is only a noise." Or 
 as Matthew Henry puts it, "Pharoah can 
 hector and talk big; but that is all; all his 
 promises vanish into smoke." In the same 
 spirit, Queen Catherine says of the dead 
 Wolsey, 
 
 " His promise was as lie then was, mighty ; 
 But his performance, as lie now is, nothing." 
 
 If we found a little sketch like the fol- 
 lowing in Thackeray, we should, beyond 
 doubt, pronounce it humorous: "All the 
 brethren of the poor do hate him; how 
 much more do his friends go far from him. 
 
fntroftuctotg. 15 
 
 He pursueth them with words, yet are they 
 wanting' to him." The words of a poor man 
 can not travel fast enough to overtake his 
 rich friends and neighbors. Indeed, Thack- 
 eray has drawn such a picture in his more 
 elaborate description of Harry Warrington 
 in the sponging-house, making vain appeals 
 for help to his rich relatives and friends. 
 rf lie pursued them with words, yet were they 
 wanting to him." His aunt, — "a member 
 of the great and always established Church 
 of the Pharisees, sent him her blessing, — 
 and a tract!" 
 
 If we found, in any modern literature, a 
 sketch of the ruling deacon in a church, like 
 John's description of Diotrephus, we should 
 say it was tinged with satire. "I wrote 
 unto the Church, but Diotrephus, tvho lov- 
 eth to have the pre-eminence among them, 
 receiveth us not. Wherefore if I come, I 
 will remember his deeds which he doeth, 
 prating against us with malicious words; 
 and not content therewith, neither doth he 
 himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth 
 them that would, and casteth them out of the 
 Church." Evidently there was a deacon 
 
1,; Ulit an& Ibumor of the JBible. 
 
 in one of the apostolic churches, who always 
 had to be consulted. Everything must go 
 as he dictated. He did not even stand in 
 awe of an accredited apostle. The minister 
 must preach according to his views of the- 
 ology, or signify his willingness to accept 
 a call to a new field. Those members of the 
 church who upheld a minister whom Dio- 
 trephus did not like, found their connection 
 with the body severed without the formality 
 of asking their consent. In the matter of 
 having a Diotrephus within their borders, 
 some churches to-day find themselves in the 
 direct line of apostolic succession. 
 
 In the book of .Vets, there is an account 
 of Paul's reception at Athens. "And they 
 took him and brought him unto Areopagus, 
 saying, May we know what this new doc- 
 trine is, whereof thou speakest? For thou 
 bringest certain strange things to our ears; 
 we would know, therefore, what these 
 things mean." In the comment which fol- 
 lows this account, the writer indulges in a 
 touch of ridicule upon the Athenian gossips 
 and curiosity mongers. We should say it 
 was a touch of ridicule if we found it in 
 
Introductory. 17 
 
 Addison. "For all the Athenians and 
 strangers which were there, spent their time 
 in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear 
 some new thing " Indeed there is a sketch 
 in Addison of which this might easily have 
 been the ground-work. "There is no humor 
 of my countrymen which I am more inclined 
 to wonder at than their general thirst after 
 ni ws. X victory or defeat is equally agree- 
 able to them. The shutting of a cardinal's 
 mouth pleaseth them one post, and the 
 opening of it another. They are delighted 
 to hear the French Court is removed to 
 Marli, and are afterwards as much delighted 
 with its return to Versailles. They read 
 the advertisements with the same curiosity 
 as the articles of public news; and are as 
 pleased to hear of a pye-bald horse that 
 is strayed out of a field near Islington, as of 
 a whole troop that has been engaged in any 
 foreign adventure. In short, they have a 
 relish for anything that is neivs, let the mat- 
 ter of it be what it will. They are men of 
 a roracious appetite." Is not the comment 
 of the Scriptural writer upon the Athenians 
 
18 "CCltt an& tbumor of tbe JGible. 
 
 in the same vein with Addison's comment 
 upon the English? 
 
 Isaiah rebukes those "who call evil good 
 and good evil; who put darkness for light 
 and light for darkness; who put bitter for 
 sweet and sweet for bitter," — thus eon fus- 
 ing moral distinctions. This is the same 
 sort of sophistry that Addison exposes, in 
 his gentle way, by proposing the follow- 
 ing form of agreement: "We whose names 
 are hereunto subscribed, do solemnly de- 
 clare that Ave do in our consciences believe 
 that two and two make four; and that Ave 
 shall adjudge any man whatever to be 
 our enemy who endeavors to persuade us 
 to the contrary. We are likewise ready 
 to maintain, with the hazard of all that 
 is near and dear to us, that six is less 
 than seA T en in all times and at all places; 
 and that ten aa ill not be more three years 
 hence than it is at present. We do also 
 firmly declare that it is our resolution as long- 
 as avc live to call Black black and White 
 white. And we shall upon all occasion* 
 oppose such persons that upon any dan of 
 the year shall call Black white or W1tit< j 
 
Introductory. ''•' 
 
 black, "'if// tin nt most of our lives and for^ 
 tunes." The rebuke, in both cases, is the 
 same. 
 
 IV. 
 
 What do these illustrations show? f? That 
 the Bible is, on the whole, a humorous 
 book? Far from it. That religion is a 
 humorous subject? that Ave are to throw all 
 the wit Ave can into the treatment of it? No. 
 But they show that the sense of the ludi- 
 crous is put into man by his Maker; that it 
 has its uses ; that Ave are not to be ashamed 
 of it; " that Ave are not to be horrified at the 
 mention of it in connection Avith things we 
 deem most sacred. They sIioav that the 
 literature of the Bible contains the same ele- 
 ments that in any other literature Ave call Wit 
 and Humor. They show us, also, that Ayit and 
 humor do not of necessity produce hearty 
 laughter or boisterous mirth; not always do 
 they manifest themselves in "gihes and 
 gambols and flashes of merriment that set 
 the table in a roar/' Those, therefore, avIio 
 may expect something in these chapters 
 that will shake one's sides with jollity, or 
 
20 -mix an£ Ibumer of tbe 3Biblc. 
 
 make him K laugh till his face be like a wet 
 cloak ill laid up," will doubtless be disap- 
 pointed. Wit and humor often lie too deep 
 for laughter, as pathos often lies too dee]) 
 for tears. 
 
 No attempt is here made at exact defini- 
 tion of the two words that are prominent in 
 the general title of this hook. Perhaps after 
 they have passed through their final analysis 
 we shall not he any wiser than before we 
 casl them into the alembic. Barrow says of 
 Humor: ""It is a thing so versatile and 
 multiform that it seems no less hard to settle 
 a clear and certain notion thereof, than to 
 make a portrait of Proteus or to define the 
 figure of the fleeting* air." We usually 
 include under the general term all forms of 
 pleasantly, grotesqueness, drollery, sarcasm, 
 irony, ridicule. Our common acceptation 
 shall serve us in these studies. 
 
 " There are many things," says Prof. 
 Matthews, "that definition heljjs us to un- 
 derstand, but there are other things that we 
 understand better than Ave can any possible 
 definition of them; among these are the 
 cold, sparkling, mercurial thing we call wit, 
 
Introductory. 21 
 
 and that genial, juicy, unconscious thing we 
 call lmiiK >r/' 
 
 With these preliminary observations, we 
 proceed to examine the subject in detail: 
 
 •• Are there not two points in the adventure of the diver? 
 One when a beggar he prepares to plunge ; 
 The other when a prince he rises with his pearl ? 
 Festus, I plunge." 
 
II. CHARACTER SKETCHES. 
 
 Now, by two-headed Janus, 
 
 Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time ; 
 
 Some that will evermore peep through their eyes, 
 
 And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper ; 
 
 And other of such vinegar aspect, 
 
 That they'll not show their teeth by way of smile, 
 
 Tho' Nestor swore the jest were laughable." — 
 
 Merchant of Venice. 
 
 <2t) 
 
CHARACTER SKETCHES. 
 
 -• With whal prudence does the Son of Sirach caution us 
 in the choice of our friends. And with what strokes of 
 Nature, (I could almost say of Humour,) has he described 
 the behavior of a treacherous and self-interested friend ! " — 
 A <]<UsGn. 
 
 fP TiiE history of the ancient Hebrews," 
 says (leorge Eliot, "gives the idea of a 
 people who went about their business and 
 their pleasures as gravely as a society of 
 beavers; the smile and laugh are often men- 
 tioned metaphorically; but the smile is one 
 of complacency, the laugh of scorn." 
 
 Against the authority of so illustrious a 
 name, the writer of these pages confesses a 
 somewhat different impression. It is diffi- 
 cult to believe that such sentiments as the 
 following could have arisen among a people 
 whose only smile was that of complacency, 
 whose only laughter that of scorn: 
 
 "He that is of a merry heart hath a con- 
 tinual feast." 
 
 (25) 
 
26 iuit an& f)umot of tbe .Bible. 
 
 "A merry heart maketh a cheerful coun- 
 tenance." 
 
 W A merry heart doeth good like a medi- 
 cine." 
 
 "do thy way; eat thy bread with joy and 
 drink thy wine with a merry heart." 
 
 ' r The voice of mirth," "the voice of glad- 
 ness" are phrases of frequent occurrence. 
 The ancient Hebrews believed that there 
 was a r 'time to laugh" as well as a "time to 
 weep." Grave and serious as they were, 
 there must have been in them, after all, 
 something sunny and pleasant. They did 
 not find the heavens forever black and the 
 earth forever cheerless. 
 
 When Ave turn to the historical and bio- 
 graphical portions of Scripture, we find here 
 and there a bit of quaint ness and drollery 
 in pictures of life and delineations of char- 
 acter that must have brought to the faces of 
 those who read them or heard them smiles 
 other than those of complacency; that must 
 have been enjoyed with laughter other than 
 that of scorn. 
 
 Mr. Shorthouse says, "Nature and humor 
 do not lie far apart; the source and spring 
 
Character SftetCbe*. 27 
 
 of humor Is human life. Hie essence 
 
 of humor," Carlyle remarks, "is sensibility; 
 warm, tender fellow-feeling with all forms 
 of existence." "The man of humor," writes 
 another distinguished critic, "seeing at one 
 glance the majestic and the mean, the seri- 
 ous and the laughable; indeed, interpreting 
 what Is little or ridiculous by light derived 
 from its opposite idea, delineates character 
 as lie finds it in life, without any impertinent 
 intrusion of his own indignation or ap- 
 proval." 
 
 The writers of the Bible sketched man- 
 ners and traits as they found them. Their 
 pencils were faithful to nature. They 
 reported what they saw. The features 
 which provoke the smile, as well as those 
 which move us to admire, condemn or weep, 
 are pictured on their canvas. They had an 
 eye for the ludicrous side of life, as well 
 as for its more sober aspects. So genial 
 is much of their — often unconscious — 
 humor, so far removed from bitterness or 
 scorn, that it should seem as if Addison and 
 irving might have drawn some of their 
 inspiration from these old Hebrews. 
 
- s lUit and ibumor of tbe ttfble. 
 
 In this chapter we shal 1 
 trations from their sketches of character. 
 
 I. — Abimelech. 
 
 Iii the time of the Judges the unprin- 
 cipled Abimelech contrived to have himself 
 proclaimed king in Sheehem. Knowing his 
 unfitness for the throne, and vexed at his 
 successful machinations, Jotham, a man 
 of ready wit, ridicules the pretensions of 
 the monarch and the folly of the people, 
 in an admirable fable. Addison says: 
 "Fables were the first pieces of wit that 
 made their appearance in the world, and 
 have been still highly valued, not only in 
 times of the greatest simplicity, but among 
 the most polite ages of mankind. Jotham's 
 fable of the Trees is the oldest that is 
 extant, and as beautiful as any that have 
 been made since that time." 
 
 Perching himself upon the top of a hill, 
 that his parable may not be brought to 
 an untimely end, he speaks to the multitude: 
 "The Trees went forth on a time to anoint 
 a king over them. And they said to the 
 
Character Sftetcbes. 29 
 
 Olive Tree, Reign thou over us. But the 
 Olive Tree said unto them, Should I leave 
 my fatness, wherewith by me they honor 
 God and men, and go to be promoted over 
 the Trees? Then said the Trees unto the 
 Pig Tree, Come thou and reign over us. 
 But the Fig Tree said unto them. Should I 
 forsake my sweetness and my good fruit, 
 and go to he promoted over the Trees? 
 Then said the Trees unto the Vine, Come 
 thou and reign over us. And the Vine said 
 unto them, Should I leave my wine which 
 cheereth God and Man, and go to he pro- 
 moted over the Trees?" Thus far the 
 Trees have been unsuccessful. They have 
 found among their fellows of the forest no 
 available candidate whose character and 
 record are good. They anticipated a diffi- 
 culty of more modern times. But they are 
 becoming desperate. They are determined 
 to have a king. In this extremity what 
 step do they take? "Then said all the 
 Trees unto the Bramble, Come thou and 
 reign over us." The Bramble cannot plead 
 business. It cannot say, as do the Olive 
 and Fig and Vine, "I am of some better 
 
30 iuit anfc Ibumor of tbe JBtble. 
 
 use." There is no reason, so far as any 
 beneficent occupation is concerned, why it 
 should not be king. The offer is eagerly 
 accepted, and the pompous bush delivers 
 itself of this high and mighty coronation 
 address: "If in truth ye anoint me king- 
 over yon, then come and put your trust in 
 my shadow; and if not, let fire come out 
 of the Bramble and destroy the cedars of 
 Lebanon!" 
 
 This Bramble, Jotham explains, represents 
 Abimelech, while the misguided trees are the 
 men of Shechem. Having made this appli- 
 cation, Jotham became convinced that his 
 mission was ended, and abandoned Mount 
 Gerezim for a place of greater security. 
 "And Jotham ran away and fled, and went 
 to Beer and dwelt there for fear of .Abime- 
 lech his brothei-/' He did not wait to see 
 what impression he had made. He was 
 willing to let his story, moral and all, 
 take care of itself; for in that day, as in 
 every subsequent age, there was no room 
 for a satirist in the kingdom of an incom- 
 petent ruler. 
 
Cbaractcr Sketches. 31 
 
 II. — Samson. 
 
 Farther on in the book of Judges, we 
 have the portrait of Samson. How quaintly 
 is the character drawn! A great lubberly, 
 good-natured giant, but now and then burst- 
 ing out into fits of unreasoning "and uncon- 
 trolled anger, — not unlike Ajax in the 
 play. He is constantly making himself ridi- 
 culous in his love affairs. 
 
 In Love's Labor Lost, the following dia- 
 logue ocelli's: — 
 
 " Armado. — Comfort me, boy. What great men 
 
 have been in love? 
 
 •• Moth. — Hercules, .Master. 
 
 "ARM. — Most sweet Hercules! More authority 
 dear boy, name more ; and sweet my child, let them be 
 men of good repute and carriage. 
 
 "Moth. — Samson, Master; he was a man of good 
 carriage, for he raised the town gates on his back like a 
 porter; and he was in love." 
 
 He tries to joke in clumsy riddles: "Out 
 of the eater came forth meal, out of the 
 strong came forth sweetness." But his 
 jokes were usually of a more practical and 
 even more disastrous kind. L'Estrange, in 
 
32 mit ano Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 his History of Humor, says: w The first 
 character in the records of antiquity that 
 
 seems to have had anything quaint or droll 
 about it is that of Samson. Standing out 
 amid the confusion of legendary times, he 
 gives us good specimens of the fierce, wild 
 kind of merriment relished in ancient days; 
 and was very fond of making very sanguin- 
 ary sport for the Philistines. He was an 
 exaggeration of a not very uncommon type 
 of man. in which brute strength is joined to 
 loose morals and whimsical fancy. People 
 were more inclined to laugh at sufferings 
 formerly than now, because they were not 
 keenly sensitive to pain, and also had less 
 feeling and consideration for others. That 
 Samson found some malicious kind of pleas- 
 ure and diversion in his reprisals on his 
 enemies and made his misfortunes minister 
 to his amusement, is evident from the 
 strange character of his exploits. f He 
 caught three hundred foxes, and took fire- 
 brands, and turned tail to tail, and put a fire- 
 brand in the midst between two tails, and 
 when he had set the brands on fire, he let 
 them go into the standing corn of the Philis- 
 
Character 5ketcbes. :;:; 
 
 tines, and burned up both the shocks and 
 also the standing corn of the Philistines, 
 with the vineyards and olives. ' On another 
 
 occasion, he allowed himself to be hound 
 with cords and thus apparently delivered 
 powerless into the hands of his enemies; 
 he then broke his bonds Mike flax that was 
 burnt with fire, 5 and taking the jawbone of 
 an ass which he found, slew a thousand men 
 with it. His account of this massacre shows 
 that he regarded it in a humorous light: 
 f With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon 
 heaps, with the jawbone of an ass, I have 
 slain a thousand men/ We might also 
 refer to his carrying away the gates of Gaza 
 to the top of a hill that is before Hebron, 
 and to his duping Delilah about the seven 
 green withes. * * * Samson was evi- 
 dently regarded as a droll fellow in his day." 
 What a touch of human nature there is 
 in the scene between Samson and his wife, 
 when she asks for the solution of that 
 wretched riddle! "'Thou dost but hate me," 
 is her reproach, "and lovest me not; thou 
 hast put forth a riddle unto the children of 
 my people, and hast not. told it to me." 
 
34 xuit an& t>umoc of tbe JBtble. 
 
 What! is there a domestic storm already 
 brewing? There is something of a thunder- 
 clap in the angry retort of the husband: 
 t? Behold, I have not told it to my father and 
 my mother," (as if that would make any 
 difference to her!) "and shall I tell it to 
 thee?" Comparisons of this sort are but 
 little noted for their conciliatory tendencies, 
 and so we are fully prepared for what 
 follows: "And site wept before him the 
 seven days while the feast lasted." Poor 
 Samson is not proof against woman's tears. 
 He could rend the lion as a kid, and carry 
 off the gates of Gaza as easily as a shepherd 
 could bear a lamb upon his shoulders, but 
 his superhuman strength is of no avail 
 against "women's weapons, Water-drops." 
 "We are not surprised to find that w it came 
 to pass on the seventh day he told her." 
 Thus did conjugal quarrels end in the time 
 of the Judges. 
 
 But if Samson was worsted in the en- 
 counter with his wife, he scored a victory 
 against the Philistines who had frightened 
 her into telling them the answer to the 
 'riddle. When they came with an air of 
 
Cbaractcv Shctcbea. 
 
 insolent triumph and said: "What is 
 sweeter than honey? and what Is stronger 
 than a lion?" he rather impolitely retorted, 
 — traces of gall and wormwood at his 
 recent humiliation by his wife still rankling 
 in his mind, — "If ye had not ploughed 
 with my heifer, ye had not found out my 
 riddle." But he paid the debt of honor he 
 owed them, the wager he had lost. r IIe 
 went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty 
 men of them, and took their spoil and gave 
 changes of raiment unto them which 
 expounded the riddle." Thersites would 
 have said of him as he did of Achilles, 
 "His wit was his sinew." Samson had won- 
 derful muscular power of repartee. 
 
 On another occasion Samson amused him- 
 self by telling monstrous lies about the se- 
 cret of his strength: "If they hind me with 
 seven green withes that were never dried, 
 then shall I he weak and he as another 
 man:" "if they hind me fast with new 
 rope-:" "if thou weavest the seven locks 
 of my head with the web;" and so on. As 
 Prince Hal said of the stdries of his boon 
 companion, "These lies are like the father 
 
rat an& Ibumor of tbc 3Btble. 
 
 that begets them; gross as a mountain, 
 open, palpable." Delilah, wearied with 
 these practical jokes, exclaims at last, 
 "How canst thou say r I love thee,' when 
 thine heart is not with meV Thou hast 
 mocked me these three times, and hast not 
 told me wherein thy greal strength lieth." 
 Then she began a course of teasing and 
 entreaty that finally proved successful. "It 
 came to pass when she pressed him daily 
 with her words, so that his soul was vexed 
 unto death, that he told her all his heart." 
 Samson was great physically, but so weak 
 mentally and morally that he is continually 
 reducing himself to an absurd spectacle. 
 He could not resist Delilah's persistent 
 importunities, nor had he sufficient resolu- 
 tion to betake himself from the presence 
 of temptation. lie had, no doubt, laughed 
 loud and long at the victims of his huge 
 falsehoods, but he is finally harassed by a 
 woman whose reproaches and entreaties 
 are like ff a continual dropping on a rainy 
 day," into telling the fatal truth. Upon the 
 whole, as avc look upon the portrait of Sam- 
 son, Ave find it impossible to respect him. 
 
Character Sfcetcbes, :; ~ 
 
 We can only smile at his folly. The 
 one flash of genuine nobility conies al the 
 last. "Nothing in Ins life became him 
 like the leaving it." After all, that heroic 
 death more than half redeems the vacil- 
 lating career il closes. 
 
 [IL— Nabal. 
 
 There is quite a different character in the 
 first book of Samuel. His name is Nabal. 
 The word itself means K fool;" and the 
 man's wife, Abigail, volunteered the opin- 
 ion that it was a very accurate description 
 of her husband: ™A.s his name is, so is 
 he: Nabal is his name and folly is 
 with him? He is self-satisfied, hard- 
 headed, irritable, obstinate. We are told 
 that he was w churlish and evil in his 
 doings." He is blunt in speech, rude, 
 and even boorish in manners. lie stands 
 out of the story like an old, gnarled tree, 
 Tt would not be a matter of marvel if he 
 suggested to Fielding the character of Squire 
 Western. They have many points in com- 
 mon. The servants of Nabal are afraid of 
 him: "He is such a son of Belial that a man 
 
3S TOt anD f)umot of tbe JGiblc. 
 
 cannot speak to him!" He is fond of wine, 
 and sometimes falls asleep over his cups. 
 
 When David asks a favor of him, he ex- 
 claims: "Who is David? and who is the 
 son of Jesse? There be many servants 
 now-a-days that break away, every man 
 from his own master!" As much as to 
 say, "The country is full of runaways 
 and tramps, and how do I know but tins 
 David is one of them?" Then he goes on 
 — "Shall I take my bread and my water, 
 and my flesh that I have killed for my 
 shearers, and give it unto men whom I 
 know not whence they be?" Let this 
 David look out for himself; it is all that I 
 can do to provide for my own family and 
 servants! How exactly in the Squire West- 
 ern; vein: "It's well for un I could not get 
 at un; I'd spoiled his caterwauling; I'd a 
 taught un to meddle with meat for his 
 master. lie shan't ever have a morsel of 
 meat of mine, or a varden to buy it 
 with!" Just the man, after he has stormed 
 his life away, to 4*e of apoplexy! And 
 Nabal did die suddenly, a few days after 
 he had been " \(jv\ drunken." 
 
Cbaractcr Sketches. 39 
 
 IV. J ON All. 
 
 There arc some elements of genuine 
 humor in the story of Jonah. Whatever 
 may be thought of the miraculous portions 
 of the narrative, the character of the shirk- 
 ing and whimpering prophet is faithfully 
 drawn. He first tries to escape the com- 
 mand of the Lord by fleeing to Tarshish, 
 but finds that he who runs away from duty 
 runs into danger. Thoroughly alarmed by 
 the disastrous outcome of his attempt to get 
 away from responsibility;, he finally goes to 
 Nineveh, but is not reconciled to his task. 
 He did not go because he was anxious to 
 serve the Nmevites, but because he wished 
 to avert further danger from himself. lie 
 is in just the mood to complain of every- 
 thing, to snatch at any straw of justification 
 for his former conduct. Contrary to his 
 expectations, and even, it must be con- 
 fessed, to his secret wishes, the Nmevites 
 were moved to repentance by his half- 
 hearted preaching, with its undertone of 
 grumbling, and God forgave them and 
 turned away the threatened destruction of 
 
40 ixxix ant) fmmot of tbe .tBiblc. 
 
 their city. Bui when the forty days expire, 
 
 .mikI the city does not fall, Jonah is angry, 
 and he insists that he docs well to be angry. 
 He has been obliged to trudge through the 
 
 streets of the city day after day shouting 
 his predictions of doom, and now lie is 
 denied the poor satisfaction of seeing the 
 bolts fall from heaven in vengeance. He 
 has even gone so far as to prepare for 
 himself a booth in a safe place, under 
 whose shadow he might sit and enjoy the 
 spectacle, — "where he might see what 
 would become of the city." And now there 
 is nothing to come of it all! "It displeased 
 Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry." 
 Surely the Lord is not considerate of the 
 feelings of his prophet. Jonah's pent-up 
 displeasure breaks forth: "1 pray thee, O 
 Lord, was not this my saving while I was 
 yet in mine own country?" Did I not tell 
 you so? Did I not say then and there how 
 this whole affair would turn out? "There- 
 fore I fled before unto Tarshish." Why 
 should I blister under the sun of Nin- 
 eveh, when I might take mine ease in 
 Tarshish? "For I knew that Thou art a 
 
Cbaractet Sftetcbee. 41 
 
 gracious God, slow to anger and of great 
 kindness and repentesl thee of the evil," — 
 too good-natured to do this thing! And 
 now that I have come, my prophecy has 
 failed and my mission is a farce. These 
 wretches are spared and the prophet of God 
 is a laughing-stock! "I do well to be angry, 
 even unto death!'' He goes farther: "I 
 beseech thee, take away my life from me; 
 for it is better for me to die than to live." 
 It is better to die than to be made ridicu- 
 lous. Nothing could reconcile Jonah, just 
 then, to the thought of further existence. 
 Like Mr. Mantilini, he was determined to 
 become a "body/' 
 
 V. — Absalom. 
 
 AVe must not pass by that exquisite like- 
 ness of the demagogue in Second Samuel. 
 "Absalom rose up early and stood beside 
 the way of the gate; and it Avas so that 
 when any man that had a controversy came 
 to the king for judgment, then Absalom 
 called unto him and said, Of what city art 
 thou? and he said, Thy servant is one of 
 
42 xuit an& t>umot of tbe raible. 
 
 the tribes of Israel. And Absalsom said 
 unto him, Sec, thy matters are good and 
 right, but there is no one deputed of the 
 king to hear thee/' Things are getting 
 very loose in the government; the country 
 is going to the dogs. The present adminis- 
 tration has been so long in power, thai it 
 has grown careless of the interests of the 
 people. Absalom said, moreover, f 'G that I 
 were made Judge in the land; that any man 
 which hath any suit or any cause might 
 come unto me, and I would do him justice!" 
 We need a change. Put our party in power 
 and see whether the rights of the people will 
 not be better regarded; see whether there 
 will not be reform in all departments of the 
 government, and better times in the nation. 
 " And it was so that when any man came to 
 him to do him obeisance, he put forth his 
 hand and took him and kissed him." Really, 
 here we have the origin of the hand shaking 
 candidate of to-day. Here are the begin- 
 nings of that cajolery of the "poor laboring 
 man," "the honest farmer," "the oppressed 
 people," which the modern aspirant to office 
 so earnestly affects. "And in this manner 
 
Character Sketches. 43 
 
 did Absalom to all Israel that came unto the 
 King for judgment; so Absalom stole the 
 hearts of the men of Israel." In one point 
 the comparison between Absalom and his 
 later imitators fails. Absalom, it will 
 be remembered, closed his career by getting 
 hung upon a tree. It is greatly to he re- 
 gretted that many of our modern dema- 
 gogues do not complete the parallel. 
 
 VI. — Shimei. 
 
 If Absalom is a type of the demagogue, 
 Shimei surely is a type of the sycophant. 
 While David was in power, Shimei was de- 
 voted. When David was supplanted by 
 the scheming Absalom and went forth 
 heart-broken and weary from the city 
 where he had reigned, Shimei basely 
 deserts him to become the tool of Absalom, 
 and heaps insults upon the head of the 
 fallen monarch. Here is a specimen of his 
 conduct and language: "lie cast stones at 
 David and at the servants of King David. 
 * * * And thus said Shimei when he 
 cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody 
 
44 TOt an& Ibumor of tbc JGible. 
 
 man and thou man of Belial: the Lord hath 
 returned upon thee all the blood of the 
 house of Saul in whose; stead thou hast 
 reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the 
 kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy 
 son; and behold thou art taken in thy mis- 
 chief because thou art a bloody man." This 
 exhibition of meanness rouses the just wrath 
 of Abishai, who wishes to put an effectual 
 stop to the miserable proceeding: " Why 
 should this dead dog curse my lord, the 
 King? Let me go over, I pray thee, and 
 take off his head." But David forbids, 
 and Shimei secure in the continued posses- 
 sion of his head followed after David and 
 his men and "cursed as he went, and threw 
 stones at him and cast dust." But the 
 scene changes. Absalom lies dead under a 
 heap of stones in the forest. David is 
 returning to Jerusalem as king. A boat 
 has carried him across the Jordan. Who is 
 this that meets him as he lands and fawns 
 upon him? The wretch who stoned and 
 cursed him the other day. Tt is Shimei who 
 forsook him and pelted him when he was 
 unfortunate, but who returns to offer, " in a 
 
Cbaractet Sftetcbes. 45 
 
 bondman's key," his humble services when 
 David is restored to power. w Let qoI 
 my Lord impute iniquity unto me, neither 
 do thou remember that which thy servant 
 did, the day that my lord the king went out 
 of Jerusalem, that the king should take it 
 to heart/' Do not grieve over it, do not 
 take it too sorely. I admit that it was 
 rather hasty and ill-advised. ff For thy ser- 
 vant doth know that I have sinned." To be 
 sure I threw some stones, and kicked up a 
 little dust, and swore a few oaths, — very in- 
 considerate it seems now; but I am willing to 
 forget the whole affair. And see what 
 splendid atonement I offer! " Behold, I am 
 come first this day of all the house of Joseph, 
 to go down to meet my Lord, the King" 
 Think of that! Ah, it is "my lord, the 
 king" to-day; no longer a "man of Belial." 
 My lord the king can grant favors. Any 
 little trifle of an office for which he may 
 want an incumbent would be considered. 
 Remember, " / am come this day, the first of 
 all the house of Joseph to go down to meet 
 in II lord the king. 
 
 Sterne says: "The wheel turns round 
 
46 xuit anfc Ibumor of tbe JBfble. 
 
 once more; Absalom Is cast down, and 
 David returns in peace. Shimei suits his 
 behavior to the occasion, and is the first 
 man also who hastens to greet him; and had 
 the wheel turned round a hundred times, 
 Shimei, I dare say, in every period of 
 its rotation would have been uppermost." 
 Then he adds: ff O Shimei, would to heaven 
 when thou wast slain, that all thy family had 
 been slain with thee and not one of thy resem- 
 blance left. But ye have multiplied exceed- 
 ingly and replenished the earth; and if I 
 prophesy rightly, ye will in the end subdue 
 it. Go where you will, in every quarter, in 
 every profession, you see a Shimei following 
 the wheels of the fortunate through thick 
 mire and clay.'' 
 
 It is not claimed that the writers of the 
 Bible drew these portraits for the purpose of 
 making ludicrous those whom they painted, 
 but the features were in the originals, and 
 they who wrote were simply faithful to nature. 
 They portrayed what they saw. They did 
 not blind themselves to facts; and now 
 worthless usurper, weak-willed giant, chur- 
 lish country squire of Palestine, grumbling 
 
Character Sketches. 47 
 
 prophet, scheming demagogue and oily 
 syeo|)hant live forever on their canvas. 
 "Now, by two-headed Janus, Nature Inith 
 framed strange fellows in her time; "and 
 some of those "strange fellows'' lived in 
 Judea thousands of years ago. 
 
III. "TOUCHES OF NATURE." 
 
 " The ludicrous has its place in the Universe; it is 
 not a human invention, but one of the Divine ideas, 
 illustrated in the practical jokes of kittens and monkeys, 
 long before Aristophanes or Shakespeare." — Holmes. 
 
 (49) 
 
"TOUCHES OF NATURE." 
 
 " To explain the nature of laughterand tears is to accounl 
 
 for tin' condition of human life; for it is in a manner com- 
 pounded of thesetwo. It is tragedy or comedy, sad or merry, 
 as it happens." — Hazlitt. 
 
 k One touch of nature," says Shakespeare, 
 "makes the whole world kin;" but the 
 great dramatist did not define exactly what 
 he meant by "touch of nature," and the 
 critics of many generations have been at 
 war over the question. Perhaps he could 
 not have told us, even if he had tried, — any 
 more than the critics can tell us. When 
 Democritus was asked his definition of a 
 man, his only reply was, "A man is that 
 which we all see and know." Further than 
 this the philosopher could not proceed. 
 But while Shakespeare has not given us a 
 definition, he has given us an illustration: 
 
 " One touch of nature makes the whole world kin, 
 
 That all, with one consent, praise new-horn gauds, 
 Tho' they are made and moulded of things past ; 
 And give to dust that is a little gilt 
 More laud than gilt o'erdusted." 
 
 C51) 
 
52 van anD Ibumor of the JStble. 
 
 The whole world is l<in in this, that all 
 with one consent inexcusably forget the 
 substantia] past and praise the present folly, 
 if that folly he well tricked out. Humanity 
 proves its oneness by its foibles as well as 
 by its virtues. fr Foolery, sir, doth walk 
 about the orb; like the sun it shineth every- 
 where." Things deserving of laughter and 
 things intended to provoke it have always 
 been happening; and the faculties by which 
 men perceive the foolish and ludicrous have 
 always existed in human nature. 
 
 " Quips and cranks and wanton wiles, 
 Nods and becks and wreathed smiles, 
 Sport that wrinkled care derides, 
 And laughter holding both his sides," — ■ 
 
 all these were in the past as well as in the 
 present. They are "touches of nature" 
 that "make the whole world kin." 
 
 The statement was made in the preceding 
 chapter that the writers of the Bible, espec- 
 ially of the historical books, drew faithfully 
 from real life, and sketched manners and 
 traits as they found them. They neither 
 smoothed over nor concealed anything. 
 
"Coucbee of mature." 53 
 
 They were absolutely frank. This fidelity to 
 nature made it inevitable thai the writers 
 should now and then depict the ludicrous 
 side of life and character, describe grotesque 
 
 situations and paint amusing scenes. These 
 are not uproariously funny, they will not 
 provoke boisterous merriment, any more than 
 will a page of Addison; hut they are none 
 the less specimens of genuine humor. 
 Indeed, ( Jarlyle reminds us that r 'true humor 
 springs not more from the head than from 
 the heart; it issues not in laughter, but in 
 smiles that lie far deeper." 
 
 We may be sure that all life from the 
 very beginning has had its humorous no less 
 than its serious side. If any record had 
 been kept, we should no doubt find that 
 Adam and Eve had their jokes about the 
 apples — it is universally assumed that they 
 were apples — on that forbidden tree, and 
 that they were quite as good as any jokes 
 that have been made about those same apples 
 in more recent years. The masons and 
 bricklayers on the tower of Babel no doubt 
 poked their thumbs into each other's ribs and 
 slapped each other on the back to emphasize 
 
54 \uit and Ibumcr of tbe .iGiblc. 
 
 their rude jokes about the late "wet spell," 
 and wondered how long it would take to 
 gel to Heaven with their building. And 
 we imagine that even during the Hood itself 
 there were sanguine souls who took the 
 whole matter philosophically, declaring that 
 r it never rained long when the clouds looked 
 that way and the wind was in that direc- 
 tion/ The Israelites, we suspect, lightened 
 their bondage in Egypt by mimicking the 
 pompous manners of their hated taskmasters 
 and ridiculing the fools who thought that 
 bricks could be made without straw. And 
 the grimmest Egyptian mummy that now 
 graces a museum or helps to fertilize the 
 wheat-fields of the West once wore a smile 
 or grin upon his leathern face as he related to 
 a brother mummy how Pharoah made sport 
 of the Israelites by promising to "let them 
 go," and then when they were all on tip-toe 
 with expectation, countermanding the order. 
 Then they would both shake their heads and 
 chuckle with delight over the pleasant 
 humor of their monarch and declare that 
 'Pharoah was in high spirits to-day.' Thus 
 the world has rolled and chirruped and 
 
"ttoucbee of nature." ••• , 
 
 cackled on since the time when man emerged 
 
 from the animal. And Holmes suggests, 
 in our motto, that the sense of humor was 
 in the animal before man. 
 
 r. 
 
 Sometimes the humor of the Bible lies in 
 tbe thing described, — the odd or awkward 
 01* absurd thing' said or done. 
 
 "The Iliad," says Sidney Smith, "would 
 never have come down to these times, if 
 Agamemnon had given Achilles a box on 
 the ear. We should have trembled for the 
 ./Eneid, if some Trojan nobleman had 
 kicked the pious ^Eneas in the fourth book. 
 .Eneas, may have deserved it, but he never 
 could have founded the Roman Empire after 
 so distressing an accident." And yet acci- 
 dents quite as distressing, if not of precisely 
 the same nature, have happened in the best 
 families that ever lived upon this planet. 
 The writers of the Bible have not hesitated 
 to give us a very frank account of some of 
 them. 
 
 Imagine the vacant look of the terrified 
 Aaron, as he gave his imbecile explan- 
 
56 xuit and ftmmor of tbc JBible. 
 
 at ion of the golden calf! Moses and 
 Joshua are coming down from the mountain. 
 " And ayIh'u Joshua heard the noise of the 
 people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, 
 There is a noise of war in the camp. And 
 Moses answered, It is not the voice of 
 them that shout for mastery, neither is it 
 the voice of them that cry for being over- 
 come; but the noise of them that sing do I 
 hear." Soon they draw near the camp and 
 see "the calf and the dancing." Then does 
 the anger of Moses wax hot. In his rage 
 he flings down and shatters the "tables of 
 stone." Like a whirlwind he descends upon 
 the earn]), hurls the miserable calf into the 
 fire, and demands an explanation of his 
 recreant brother. " What did this people 
 unto thee that thou hast brought so great a 
 sin upon them? " Aaron quails beneath the 
 wrath of Moses and stammers: "Thou 
 knowest the people that they are set on 
 mischief. For they said unto me, Make us 
 gods which shall go before us: for as for 
 this Moses " — think of that, this Moses — 
 "that brought us up out of the land of 
 Egypt, we know not what has become of 
 
"Coucbcs ot future." 57 
 
 him.'' You see they are set on mischief; 
 they were disrespectful even unto von — 
 this Moses, Something had to be done. 
 
 "And I said unto them, Whosoever hath 
 any gold, let them break it off. 80 they 
 gave it to me, and I east it into the fire, 
 and" — what do you suppose happened? — 
 K there came out this calf!" I was as much 
 surprised as you are, but no one is respon- 
 sible — it <Ii<I itself! 
 
 In quaint fashion did Saul make honest 
 confession when smitten with remorse on 
 account of his persecution of David: "Be- 
 hold I have played the fool ! " The regret 
 of Prince Hal also — "Thus do we play the 
 fools with time, while the spirits of the wise 
 sit in the clouds and mock us." 
 
 What an odd — almost laughable — spec- 
 tacle is the bombastic Nebuchadnezzar, 
 one moment proudly striding along the 
 battlements of his palace, "Is not this great 
 Babylon which I have builded? " — the next 
 eating grass like the beasts of the field! As 
 Carlyle says: "A purple Xebuchadnezzar 
 rejoices to feel himself now veritably emperor 
 of this great Babylon which he has builded; 
 
• r >* Ulit and Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 and />• a nondescript, biped-quadruped, on the 
 eve of a seven years' course of grazing." 
 
 There is a scene in the life of David in 
 which that worthy is represented as cutting 
 fantastic capers before high heaven. At 
 one time, in order to keep out of Saul's way, 
 David went down to Gath. The servants 
 of KingAchish recognize him, and tell their 
 loyal master that this is the famous David 
 over whose exploits the daughters of Israel 
 sang. "Is not this David, the king of the 
 land? Did they not sing to one another of 
 him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his 
 thousands, and David his ten thousands?" 
 Bui David does not wish his identity known 
 and with characteristic shrewdness lie feigns 
 insanity. "He feigned himself mad, and 
 scrabbled on the doors of the gate and let 
 his spittle fall down upon his beard," — a 
 sorry looking hero! So thinks the king" 
 Achish. What, this the man that slew the 
 giant? this drivelling lunatic the victor that 
 [srael's daughters praised? His disgust 
 knows no hounds. Tie is almost as gro- 
 tesque in his anger as is David in his appear- 
 ance and conduct. He turns upon his 
 
"Coucbe* of nature." 59 
 
 courtiers in offended dignity and cries, f *Lo, 
 ye sec the man is mad; wherefore have ye 
 brought him to me? Havt I need of mad- 
 men, (are nol ye my own servants suffi- 
 cient?) thai ye have brought this fellow to 
 play the madman in my presence? Shall 
 this fellow come into my house? " " Pool me 
 no fools." says King Achish. When King 
 Achish asked, "Have I need of madmen?" 
 he evidently thought of his own servants and 
 courtiers as did Christian I., of Denmark, in 
 modern times, of those who graced his 
 Court. He sharply remarked, on a pres- 
 entation to him of several court fools, that 
 "he was not in want of such things, and if 
 he were, he had only to give license to his 
 courtiers, who, to his certain knowledge, 
 were capable of exhibiting themselves as 
 the greatest fools in Europe!" 
 
 In Nehemiah's account of building the 
 Avails of Jerusalem, he shows how sorely 
 the dews took the clumsy jibes of their 
 for- and gives us a specimen of Samaritan 
 joking in that early day. Sanballat mocked 
 the dews and said, " What do these feeble 
 Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will 
 
60 TOUt an£> Ibumor of tbe JBiblc. 
 
 they sacrifice? "Will they make an end in 
 a clay? AVill they revive the stones out 
 of the heaps of rubbish which are burned?" 
 Tobiah, the Amorite, was yet more caustic: 
 "Even that which they build, if a fox go 
 ii]), he will even break down their stone 
 wall." This ridicule, although the jests do 
 not seem very formidable to us, was harder 
 to bear than attacks with sword and spear. 
 It is so to-day. We can stand anything but 
 laughter. One would rather be made to 
 appear infamous than ridiculous. The only 
 answer the builders could make was to pray 
 for the destruction of their sarcastic perse- 
 cutors. They wished that heaven's bolts 
 of lightning might answer these bolts of 
 wit. 
 
 II. 
 
 Sometimes the humor lies in the descrip- 
 tion itself rather than in the thing described. 
 Dr. Barrow, in his famous essay, says of 
 facetiousness, "Sometimes it is wrapped up 
 in a dress of humorous expression." 
 
 An excellent example is furnished in the 
 account of the mob at Ephesus: "Some, 
 
"Couches of nature." r >l 
 
 therefore, cried our thing and some another; 
 for the assembly was confused; and the 
 more part km w not wherefore they were 
 come togetht r." 
 
 When Sidney Smith speaks of w distress- 
 ing accidents," we arc reminded that an 
 exceedingly "distressing accident" hap- 
 pened in the very first family of which we 
 have any record — the family that started 
 in Eden. Aside from any question as to the 
 literal truth of the story, nothing can exceed 
 the simplicity and naturalness with which 
 the writer has described the culprits and 
 their excuses. The first thing they did 
 after their transgression was to hide. The 
 supreme and perpetual folly of guilt is to 
 imagine that it can be hid when the voice 
 of the Lord (rod is heard in the garden. 
 ".Vud the Lord God called unto Adam, 
 and said unto him. Where art thou?" The 
 culprit creeps forth from his hiding-place 
 and stammers, "I heard thy voice in 
 the garden, and I was afraid because I 
 was naked; and I hid myself." "Who 
 told thee that thou wast naked? EJasI 
 thou eaten of the tree whereof I com- 
 
62 iMit an& tumor of tbe Bible. 
 
 manded thee that thou shoiildst not eat?" 
 Now the guilty secret is out and Adam 
 
 pleads in extenuation, "The woman that 
 thou gavest to be with me, she gave 
 me of the tree and I did eat." It was no 
 fault of mine. That woman was to blame 
 — the woman, O Lord, remember, that thou 
 gavest to be with me. Is not a little of the 
 responsibility thine also, O Lord? A touch 
 of nature! "As it was in the beginning, is 
 now and ever shall be!" But Eve will not 
 bear all the blame. She also is ready with 
 her excuse: "The serpent beguiled me and 
 I did eat." Another remove in the location 
 of the responsibility. If we can forget all 
 that theology has put into this story and 
 look on it simply as a bit of literature, it is a 
 charming description of the way in which we 
 mortals disclaim accountability for our deeds. 
 
 " And oftentimes excusing of a fault, 
 
 Doth make the fault worse by the excuse ; 
 As patches set upon a little breach, 
 Discredit more in hiding of the fault, 
 Then did the fault before it was so patched." 
 
 Job has expressed his contempt for Adam's 
 conduct in Eden by invoking upon himself 
 
11 Couches of Wature." 68 
 
 even greater ills than he was then suffering, 
 if he followed thai disgraceful example, — 
 "If I covered my transgression as Adam, by 
 hiding my iniquity in my bosom." In mag- 
 nificent scorn of Adam's hiding from the 
 Lord and laying his guilt upon another, Job 
 exclaims, w Behold, my desire is that the 
 Almighty would answer me!" and avows 
 that "lie would declare unto him the number 
 of his steps, and as a prince would go near 
 unto him," — not skulk away from his pres- 
 ence among trees and bushes. The low 
 estimation in which Job holds Adam sug- 
 gests that the old Hebrew who wrote the 
 story in Genesis, may have intended to hold 
 up that primal man in a humorous light. 
 
 Whether the story of Balaam is literally 
 correct in its details is one of the questions 
 this little volume is not intended to discuss. 
 The writer of that story tells his tale as 
 naively as if conversations between men 
 and animals were of everyday occurrence. 
 If we read it as we would any similiar piece, 
 any other fable in which men and beasts 
 speak to each other, we should say that 
 there were some elements of the ludicrous 
 
64 Tuatt ano Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 in the picture of the prophet rebuked by his 
 ass. "And the ass saw the angel of the 
 Lord standing in the way, and his sword 
 drawn in his hand; and the ass turned aside 
 out of the way and went into the field. 
 And Balaam smote the ass to turn her into 
 the way." Just what any one would do to a 
 ff shying" animal, upon impulse. ff But the 
 angel of the Lord stood in a path of the 
 vineyards, a wall being on this side and a 
 wall on that side. And when the ass saw 
 the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself 
 unto the wall and crushed Balaam's foot 
 against the wall; and he smote her again." 
 Naturally enough! "And the angel of the 
 Lord went further and stood in a narrow 
 place where there was no way to turn either 
 to the right hand or to the left. And when 
 the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell 
 down under Balaam; and Balaam's anger 
 was kindled, and he smote the ass with a 
 staff." The rising wrath of the prophet 
 can no longer be controlled. The turning 
 from the way, the crushing of his foot 
 against the Avail, and finally the falling down 
 under him and refusing to proceed further, 
 
" Coucbee of Mature." 65 
 
 — these indignities on the part of the ass at 
 length exasperate the prophet beyond all 
 measure, and he right lustily lays on the 
 cudgel. " What have I done unto thee that 
 thou hast smitten me these three times?" 
 meekly inquires the belabored ass, "Be- 
 cause thou hast mocked me, I would that there 
 were a sword in my hand, for now I would 
 kill thee," roars Balaam. Thou hast mocked 
 me; thou hast played tricks upon thy master, 
 the prophet of God. Thou hast done this 
 on purpose to vex me and put me to shame. 
 Thou hast made a sorry spectacle of me with 
 thy pranks, and thou hast crushed my foot 
 in the bargain. "Am I not thine ass upon 
 which thou hast ridden ever since I was 
 thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to 
 do so unto thee?" Should you not have 
 known there was something unusual? 
 These are touches of nature in a story 
 which might illustrate the saying of Isaiah 
 in which he attributes higher wisdom to 
 brutes than to men: "The ox knoweth his 
 owner and the ass his master's crib, but 
 Israel doth not know, my people will not 
 consider." Was it this saying that Shakes- 
 
r >6 TUflit anfc Ibumor of tbe JBfble. 
 
 peare had in mind when he said, through the 
 lips of Mark Antony : 
 
 14 O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, 
 And men have lost their reason." 
 
 At one time the king of Assyria brought 
 men from Babylon and other cities, and put 
 them into the cities of Samaria to take the 
 places of the children of Israel ; but the new 
 inhabitants did not fear the Lord, so the 
 writer tells us that the Lord sent lions 
 among them and slew them. Some one 
 spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, rf The 
 nations which thou hast moved and placed 
 in the cities of Samaria know not the 
 manner of the God of the land/' The} are 
 not acquainted with his habits and methods, 
 and have gotten themselves into great 
 trouble. The God of the land has sent lions 
 among them. The king, hearing this, is in 
 great dismay. It will never do — the 
 ravages of those lions must be stopped. 
 He evidently thought, as did Nick Bottom, 
 " There is no more fearful wild-fowl than 
 your lion living, and we ought to look to 
 it." Pf Then the king of Assyria com- 
 
" Coucbes of IRature." ,; ~ 
 
 manded, saying, Carry thither one of the 
 priests whom ye brought from thence, and 
 let him go there and dwell and teach them 
 the manner of the God of the land." The 
 priest went and taught the uninitiated 
 people not to provoke a God who could let 
 hungry lions loose upon them at any 
 moment. The people listened in terror. 
 The result of the instruction was that "the 
 people feared the Lord," — with a side 
 glance at the lions. They tried to refrain 
 from what would make him angry enough 
 to order out the lions ; but after all — and 
 there must have been a twinkle in the eye of 
 the scribe as he recorded it — ff they served 
 their own gods" 
 
 When Queen Vashti refused to come into 
 the presence of King Ahasuerus and his 
 drunken lords, she did something that was 
 wholly unprecedented. Nothing of the 
 kind had ever before been heard of in the 
 whole history of the empire. The revellers 
 are shocked sober. Consternation reigns 
 supreme. When did a queen ever refuse 
 to do the bidding of a king? a wife the 
 bidding of a husband? Are all our ancient 
 
08 -mitt anfc Dumor of tbe mbic. 
 
 notions of propriety to be overturned? 
 What will be the effect of Vasht'fs rebellion? 
 The feelings of the king are outraged 
 because the queen declines to unveil her 
 beauty before his roistering courtiers. En- 
 raged, he demands, K What shall be done 
 unto Queen Vashti because she hath not 
 performed the commandment of the King 
 Ahasuerus?" It is a grave question. The 
 lords themselves have a stake in this matter. 
 They fear the result of this strong-minded 
 example. The contagion of disobedience 
 may spread. If it should, whose authority 
 as husband is safe? And Memucan 
 answered, " Yashti, the queen, hath not 
 done wrong to the king only, but also to all 
 the princes, and to all the people that are 
 in the province of the King Ahasuerus. 
 For this deed of Queen Vashti's shall come 
 abroad to all women, to make their husbands 
 contemptible in their eyes, when it shall be 
 reported that the King Ahasuerus com- 
 manded Yashti the queen to be brought 
 in before him, but she came not. And this 
 day shall all the princesses of Persia and 
 Media which have heard of the deed of the 
 
"Goucbee of future.' 1 &9 
 
 queen, say the like unto all the king's prin- 
 ces. So shall there arise too much contempt 
 and wrath." Such a thought could not be 
 entertained. As Dogberry would put it/' It 
 is most tolerable and not to he endured." 
 Memucan, therefore, advises: "If it please 
 the king let there go a royal commandment 
 from him, and let it be written among the 
 laws of the Persians and Medes, that it be 
 not altered, that Vashti come no more 
 before King Ahasuerus; and let the king 
 give her royal estate unto another that is 
 better than she." The penalty is severe, 
 but the case is one that demands heroic 
 treatment. "And when the king's decree 
 which he shall make, shall be published 
 throughout all his empire, all the ivives 
 sJ/(//l give t<> their husbands honor, both r/reat 
 and small" The advice is accepted. 'The 
 saying pleased the king and the prince-: 
 and the king did according to the word of 
 Memucan; for he scut letters into all the 
 king's provinces, into every province ac- 
 cording to the writing thereof, to every 
 people after their language, that every man 
 should bear rule in his own house" Thus 
 
70 xutt ano Ibumor of tbc .tSiblc. 
 
 perished the first recorded movement in the 
 
 direction of woman's rights! 
 
 III. 
 
 The humor of the Biblical writers is often 
 shown in the way they pierce through out- 
 ward actions and penetrate to the hidden 
 motives of men. Before their keen vision 
 external disguises are vain. 
 
 Let us turn to the account of sending 
 the demons from the maniac into the swine. 
 Let us take the account that speaks of but one 
 maniac. w Then they that fed the swine fled 
 and told it in the city and in the country. 
 And they went out to see what it was that 
 was done. And they came to Jesus and see 
 him that was possessed of the devil and had 
 the legion, sitting clothed and in his right 
 mind; and they were afraid." It must 
 have seemed absurd to the evangelist that 
 these Gadarenes should have been afraid of 
 the insane man after he had been restored. 
 But the swineherds have not yet told all 
 their story. "And when they that saw it 
 told them how it befell to him that was 
 
"Coucbe* of fiature. M 71 
 
 po>sc>snl with the devils and also concern" 
 ing the swine — " "Ave, there's the rub!" 
 '* when they heard ///'//, they began to pray 
 1/i in to depart out of their coasts" A man 
 
 has been restored, but a herd of swine lias 
 been lost. This new prophet will ruin us 
 all, if he stays here. Let him begone. 
 Though he saved men, they prayed him to 
 depart because he let the swine be drowned. 
 Jesus himself said once that ff every man was 
 of more value than many sparrows;" but 
 these Gadarenes seemed to think that no 
 man was worth "two thousand swine." 
 
 In the preceding section of this chapter, 
 Paul's description of a mob is noted. It 
 will be interesting to understand the oc- 
 casion of that mob. When Paul preached 
 at Ephesus, there was a marked decline in 
 the demand for images and silver shrines 
 of Diana. The market became weak. One 
 of the principal manufacturers, Demetrius, 
 called together all who were in the same 
 business and said: "Sirs, ye know that by 
 this craft Ave have our wealth. Moreover, 
 ye see and hear that not alone in Ephesus, 
 but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul 
 
72 wit ano t>umot of tbe JBfble. 
 
 hath persuaded and turned away much 
 people, saying that there be no gods which 
 are made with hands: so that not only this 
 our craft is in danger to he set at naught, but 
 that the temple of the great goddess Diana 
 should be despised and her magnificence 
 should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the 
 world worshippeth ! " Demetrius, the unc- 
 tuous hypocrite, seems to throw the real con- 
 sideration into the background, and to be 
 actuated mainly by concern for the honor of 
 his goddess. Ah, Demetrius, Demetrius, 
 little do you, little do your fellow craftsmen 
 care for Diana and her worship, except as 
 you get your gain through her devotees. 
 But make the people think you are full of 
 zeal for religion, and under the mantle of 
 this falsehood cloak your motives, as you 
 rush through the streets crying, ''Great 
 is Diana of the Ephesians ! " Rouse the pop- 
 ulace, always ripe for mischief, and always 
 more furious than ever when they think that 
 religion, something of which they do not 
 understand the first letter, and of which 
 they are absolutely destitute, is in danger. 
 Rouse the people, make a pious demonstra- 
 
" Couches of nature." 73 
 
 tion, O Demetrius, but know that he who 
 recorded it all for future ages, wrote down 
 your inmost secret — "By this craft we 
 have our wealth!" 
 
 Another instance of hypocrisy similar to 
 that of Demetrius, occurred at Philippi. 
 Paul and his comrades had spoiled the busi- 
 ness of certain ones who had in charge a 
 damsel who uttered prophecies and told for- 
 tunes, by casting out her w spirit of divina- 
 tion." w And when her masters saw that the 
 hope of their gains was gone, they caught 
 Paid and Silas and drew them into the mar- 
 ket-place unto the rulers, and brought them 
 to the magistrate, saying, These men being 
 dews do exceeding trouble our city, and 
 teach customs which are not lawful for us 
 to observe, being Romans." It is patriot- 
 ism that furnishes the cloak in this case. 
 NTo allusion to their loss of money — surely 
 not; what matters that? "He who steals 
 my purse steals trash/' But Ave must do 
 our duty by our fellow-citizens. "We must 
 not let these Jewish notions corrupt our 
 civilization. We are loyal Romans, let all 
 the world know! Is there not something 
 
74 -rot and Ibumor of tbe JBtblc. 
 
 in this incident to suggest the truthfulness 
 of Dr. Johnson's remark, "Patriotism is the 
 last refuge of a scoundrel?" 
 
 The result of the uproar was that the 
 apostles were beaten and cast into prison. 
 Somehow it was soon discovered that they 
 themselves were Roman citizens, w and 
 when it was day, the magistrates sent the 
 sergeants, saying, Let these men go. And 
 the keeper of the prison told this saying 
 to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let 
 you go; now, therefore, depart and go in 
 peace." It is now Paul's turn to be indig- 
 nant, and he is not the man to let the 
 opportunity slip. Paul insisted, as he had 
 a right to do, upon his dignity as a Roman 
 citizen. He tartly replied, !f They have 
 taken us openly, uncondemned, being Ro- 
 mans, and have cast us into prison; and 
 do they now thrust us out privily V Nay, 
 verily; but let them come themselves and fetch 
 us" A touch of nature there! "And they 
 came (meekly enough now, those pompous 
 magistrates) and brought them out" 
 
 A man who never lacked courage was 
 Paul. It had been told him that there were 
 
" Soucbes of future/ 1 75 
 
 certain ones among the Corinthians who 
 had respect for his letters, but something 
 bordering on contempt for his person. 
 w For his letters, they say, are weighty and 
 powerful, but his bodily presence is weak 
 and his speech contemptible." This is his 
 answer: f ' Let such an one think this, that 
 such as we are in word by letters, when we 
 are absent, such will we be also in deed, 
 when we are present." Let those scoffers 
 look to themselves! 
 
 In lighter and almost playful vein, is his 
 remark about the church at Corinth, in his 
 second letter: "Truly the signs of an apos- 
 tle were wrought among yon in all patience, 
 in signs and wonders and mighty deeds." 
 And yet there was one point in which the 
 Corinthian church was inferior to others: 
 "For what is it wherein ye were inferior to 
 other churches, except it he that I myself 
 was not bur densome unto you f > " Paul had 
 allowed the other churches with which he 
 labored to support him, but to the Corin- 
 thian church he had not accorded the same 
 privilege. He had favored it with no oppor- 
 tunity for benevolence. " Forgive me," 
 he exclaims, ^this wronyT 
 
76 TKHit anD Ibumor of tbc JStble. 
 
 Paul relates thai <>n one occasion he had 
 a dispute with Peter at Antioch, in which 
 he K withstood Peter to the face, because 
 Peter was to blame." It is to be doubted 
 
 ■whether Peter ever quite forgot this dispute. 
 The memory of it may have lingered and 
 been particularly active when he referred in 
 one of his own letters to "our beloved 
 brother Paul who, according to the wisdom 
 given unto him, hath written unto you; as 
 also in all his epistles speaking of these 
 things; in which are some things hard to 
 be understood, which they that are unstable 
 and unlearned do wrest, as they do also 
 the other Scriptures, (pray do not think 
 that I am making' brother Paul's writings 
 an exception) to their own destruction." 
 
 There is another phase of this general 
 subject that is reserved for separate treat- 
 ment in the following chapter. We pause 
 here to say that the people of Bible 
 times have been removed from the people of 
 to-day by a chasm too wide and deep. We 
 have been accustomed to look upon them 
 as belonging to another race — almost to an- 
 other world. It is difficult to believe that they 
 
M Ccucbcs of future.' 1 ' < 
 
 were " men of like passions with ourselves." 
 It seems almost like sacrilege to intimate 
 that they had their follies and weaknesses; 
 that they did things absurd and laughable, 
 
 and sometimes went farther and did things 
 that were mean and wicked. There was a 
 vast deal of human nature in those sublime 
 characters, (rail Hamilton sums them up 
 as follows: "Adam had dominion over the 
 earth, but he attempted to shield himself 
 from the divine displeasure by laying the 
 blame upon his wife, which no gentleman 
 would ever do. Noah was a "just man and 
 perfect in his generation,' if you do not mind 
 an occasional fit of drunkenness. Abraham 
 was a fine old sheik, a truly heroic figure, 
 brave, generous, courteous, hospitable, mag- 
 nanimous; no wonder the haughty Jews 
 loved to remember and repeat that they 
 were Abraham's children. But Abraham 
 had his weaknesses and fell before his 
 temptations; and Isaac followed in his foot- 
 steps. Of Jacob perhaps the least said 
 the better, though he maintained his posi- 
 tion as head of his family with unrelenting 
 vigor, calling no man master, either son or 
 
78 rat ano Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 king. There may have been other men 
 whose life was r without fear and without 
 reproach'; but their history is unknown to 
 us; their portrait is hardly more than a 
 name." 
 
IV. THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS. 
 
 "When a child, with child-like apprehensions that 
 dived not beneath the surface of the matter, I read those 
 parables — not guessing the involved wisdom — I had 
 more yearnings toward that simple architect that built 
 his house upon the sand, than I entertained for his more 
 cautious neighbor ; I grudged at the harsh censure pro- 
 nounced upon the quiet soul that kept his talent ; and 
 prizing their simplicity beyond the more provident, and 
 to my apprehension, somewhat unfeminine wariness of 
 their competitors, I felt a kindness that amounted almost 
 to a tendre for those thoughtless virgins. I have never 
 made an acquaintance since that lasted, or a friendship 
 that answered, with any that had not some tincture of the 
 absurd in their characters." — Charles Lamh. 
 
 (79) 
 
THE SENSE OF HUMOR IN JESUS. 
 
 " Amid the sorrow, disappointment, agony, and anguish 
 of the world, — our dark thoughts and tempestuous passions, 
 the gloomy exaggerations of self will, the enfeebling illusions 
 of melancholy, — wit and humor, light and lightning, shed 
 their soft radiance and dart their electric flash." — Whipple. 
 
 "How curious it is," says the Autocrat 
 of the Breakfast Table, "that we always 
 consider solemnity, and the absence of all 
 gay surprises and encounters of wits, as 
 essentia] to the idea of the future life of those 
 whom we thus deprive of half their facul- 
 ties and then call Messed! There are not a 
 few who, even in this life, seem to be pre- 
 paring themselves for that smileless eter- 
 nity by banishing all gayety from their 
 hearts and all joyousness from their coun- 
 tenances." Rather than believe in the 
 "smileless eternity" of such as these, Ave 
 should accept the conjecture of Soame Jen- 
 nings, that "a portion of the happiness of 
 seraphim and just men made perfect would 
 
*2 TOt ano Ibumor of tbe ftible. 
 
 be derived from an exquisite perception of 
 the Ludicrous." 
 
 To that school of melancholy teachers 
 who frown upon all pleasantry, and buttress 
 their gloomy position with the assertion 
 that "Jesus wept but never smiled," the 
 title of this chapter Avill be particularly 
 offensive. It will strike them as down- 
 right blasphemy to intimate that Jesus pos- 
 sessed and used the sense of humor so 
 common to mankind. We assuredly appre- 
 ciate the delieacy of the position, and shall 
 endeavor to avoid, in our treatment of this 
 subject, anything that might wound the 
 most sensitive sold. 
 
 There are several considerations that Avill 
 pave the way. We take it for granted that 
 Jesus was a complete human being, and 
 that as such a being he must have had all 
 the human attributes and faculties, — the fac- 
 ulty of mirthfulness among them. lie was 
 a man, and lacked nothing that pertains 
 to men. Then, too, had he been without 
 the sense of humor, much in the lives and 
 characters of those with whom he had to 
 deal, he never could have understood and 
 
Zbc Sense of ibumcr in Scsus. 
 
 83 
 
 reached. The full success of bis mission 
 depended upon his knowing all that there 
 is in man, and upon being able to gain 
 access to him through every avenue of his 
 nature. 
 
 Nor were the circumstances of his life 
 unfavorable to the development of this par- 
 ticular attribute. Theology and Art have 
 conspired to produce upon the world the 
 impression that Jesus was an exceptionally 
 wretched and suffering man. They have 
 taken one or two expressions in Isaiah, 
 such as, "his countenance was marred," 
 r 'he was a man of sorrows and acquainted 
 with grief," expressions which they misun- 
 derstood and misapplied, and with them 
 have laid the foundations of their house of 
 woe. They have seized upon a few of the 
 sadder incidents of his career, and have 
 exaggerated them into undue prominence, — 
 have given them undue proportions. Espe- 
 cially have they made much of his agony 
 in the garden and his death upon the 
 cross. These events have been magnified 
 into such mountains that all the rest of his 
 life seems to lie hidden beneath their 
 
s i mit and ibumor of tbe JSible. 
 
 shadows. It appears never to have entered 
 the mind of either preacher or painter that 
 the physical anguish of his death must 
 have been even less than that which many 
 martyrs at the stake or martyrs upon sick- 
 beds have borne; and that before death 
 came, he had lived a life with many bright 
 days and many happy experiences. His 
 existence upon earth Avas not a protracted 
 sorrow, a monumental grief. Many a 
 rose had blossomed at his feet before 
 the thorns were twisted into a crown for 
 his brow. 
 
 \\ nat shall we say of the thirty peaceful 
 years under his father's roof, with his 
 brothers and sisters? Did he not in boy- 
 hood have the amusements of other chil- 
 dren? Is there not a memento of his youth- 
 ful sports in what he says of the games of 
 the children in the market-place, when they 
 were playing at weddings and funerals? 
 Did he not, when a young man, delight in 
 his home and in his companions? Can we 
 imagine that he moved among those who 
 were nearest and dearest to him, with a 
 a face to which a smile was as much a 
 
&be Sense of f>umot in Jeeue. 8; > 
 
 stranger as a tropic flower to the frozen 
 
 /one? 
 
 When, as a mature man. he entered upon 
 his public ministry, although he was exposed 
 to frequent attack- from the representatives 
 of the established religion, vet he was never 
 without friends; never without a place of 
 refuge from the heat of battle. There were 
 many homes in which a welcome always 
 awaited him, and whose hospitality he 
 gladly accepted. Is it probable that he was 
 accustomed to sit in these homes — to use 
 Shakespeare's phrase — "like his grandsire 
 cut in alabaster?" 
 
 More than once we are directly told that 
 "he rejoiced in spirit;" more than once he 
 spoke of his "joy "to his disciples. There 
 is much evidence that Jesus was not a 
 wretched but a happy man. Did this happi- 
 ness never express itself in words or coun- 
 tenance? 
 
 There are other considerations that go far 
 to refute the dismal assertion that "Jesus 
 wept hut never smiled." Tired mothers 
 brought their children to him and he re- 
 buked the supercilious disciples who inter- 
 
86 xuit and Ibumor of tbc Bible. 
 
 fered. Can we think that on this occasion 
 lie had a woe-begone look? We read of 
 him often at feasts; would he have been in- 
 vited if he had been accustomed to sit at the 
 the table like the skeleton at an Egyptian 
 banquet? Did he not by his frequent attend- 
 ance upon festive occasions incur the odium 
 of being* a wine-bibber and a glutton? lie 
 was also a favorite with the common people. 
 They heard him gladly. But there must 
 have been something attractive in his pres- 
 ence and manner, as well as in his words, 
 and the words themselves must have ap- 
 pealed to the shrewd, homely, common sense 
 of his hearers. If he had been the sad spirit 
 he has been pictured, would the people have 
 followed him and listened to him as they did? 
 "When we leave the outward circumstances 
 and the presumption they furnish, and ex- 
 amine the fragments of his speech that have 
 been preserved for us, many of them cer- 
 tainly contain the element of humor. We 
 should undoubtedly call it humor if it 
 came from any other lips than those of 
 Jesus ; if we found it in any other book than 
 the New Testament. 
 
Zhc Sense of fmmoc in 3csus. 87 
 
 The purpose < >f this chapter will be grossly 
 misapprehended, however, if any one shall 
 suppose that we are trying to degrade Jesus 
 to the level of a professional joker. Nothing 
 is further from our intention. The very 
 thought is repulsive. One may have and 
 use the sense of humor without putting on 
 the cap and bells. He may use it with the 
 highesl motives and for the noblest ends. It 
 was said of Hosea .Ballon, that "it was no 
 uncommon thing* for him when preaching to 
 excite a smile; but usually it was done by 
 some ingenious argument that would elec- 
 trify every one present." His biographer 
 adds: ' r It is not known that any person 
 ever listened to one of his sermons who was 
 not so impressed with his sincerity, dignity 
 and earnestness, that the recollection of his 
 occasional humorous sayings was held sub- 
 sidiary and helpful to his main serious pur- 
 pose. His mother-wit was sanctified. It 
 served a divine mission in diffusing cheer- 
 fulness and health." We must always re- 
 member that wit and humor do not mean 
 buffoonery. 
 
 It is difficult to understand how any one 
 
88 *HClft an& Ibumor of tbe mbie. 
 
 can read many of the parables and other 
 sayings of Jesus, and still believe the doleful 
 tale that he "wept but never smiled."* lie 
 saw the dancing lights as well as the deep 
 shadows, the more genial and even ludicrous 
 aspects of life, as well as its various phases 
 of sorrow and sin, and all these furnished 
 subjects for his discourse as well as illustra- 
 tions for his teaching. 
 
 Let us now consider some of the ways in 
 which the sense of humor in Jesus mani- 
 fested itself. 
 
 I. 
 
 The sense of humor often tempered his 
 rebukes. There was often sunshine on the 
 cloud. 
 
 There were times, indeed, as we shall see, 
 when he spoke with unmeasured severity, 
 when his words fell like fiery hail, beating 
 and burning the heads of offenders; but 
 anon he spoke half smiling, half pitying, as 
 if disposed to laugh at the very inconsisten- 
 cies he censured. In this respect his spirit 
 has been caught by Addison and Goldsmith, 
 by Irving and Dickens. Richter says that 
 
Gbc Sense of ttmmor in 3csua. 89 
 
 "no one has a right to laugh at men but he 
 who most heartily loves them." Taine says 
 of Dickens, " Before reading him we did not 
 know there was so much pity in the heart." 
 Jesus loved men, he pitied them, even while 
 his eye detected and his words exposed their 
 faults and foibles. 
 
 He had looked with pleasure (remember- 
 ing his own childhood), upon the games of 
 the boys and girls in the streets of Jerusa- 
 lem; he thought of their whimsical com- 
 plaints, as they played at weddings and fu- 
 nerals in the market-place. On one occasion, 
 his severity mitigated by bis sense of the 
 ludicrous, he exclaimed, " "Whereunto shall 
 I liken this generation? and to what are they 
 like? They are like unto children sitting in 
 the market-places and calling to one another 
 and saying, We have piped unto you and 
 ye have not danced; we have mourned unto 
 you and ye have not lamented." Everything 
 had gone wrong. The others would not 
 play fair. They would not dance when we 
 wanted to play wedding; they would not be 
 mourners when we wanted to play funeral. 
 We have done all we could to please them. 
 
M xuit anD Ibumor of tbc JBiblc. 
 
 but they are "too mean for anything." To 
 the mind of Jesus, the people of that gener- 
 ation appeared to be making the same com- 
 plaint. They were childishly dissatisfied 
 with every divine messenger, — none could 
 please them. rf For John the Baptist came 
 neither eating bread nor drinking wine," — 
 solemn, gloomy, austere; but they would 
 have none of him. lie mourned unto them, 
 but they would not lament. They would 
 not "play at funeral" with him. They 
 turned away and said, w lie hath a devil." 
 Then came the Son of Man, bright and 
 cheerful, " eating and drinking," but they 
 would not dance to his piping. They pointed 
 at him and said, "Behold a gluttonous man 
 and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and 
 sinners!" It was impossible to please that 
 generation. 
 
 If we place this passage side by side with 
 the following from Goldsmith, we shall see 
 at once that if there be humor in the latter, 
 there must also be humor in the former. 
 The subject is the reception accorded the 
 Chinese philosopher who tried to please his 
 friends by his demeanor upon the death of 
 
Cbc Sense ot Ibumcr in $ee\X8. 91 
 
 an English sovereign: "I thought it at 
 
 least my duty to appeal- sorrowful; to put 
 on a melancholy aspect, or to set my lace by 
 that of the people. The first company I 
 came amongst after the news became gen- 
 eral was a set of jolly companions who were 
 drinking prosperity to the ensuing reign. I 
 entered the room with looks of despair, and 
 even expected applause for the superlative 
 misery of my countenance. Instead of that, 
 T was universally condemned by the company 
 and desired to take away my penitential phiz 
 to some other quarter. I now corrected my 
 former mistake, and with the most sprightly 
 air imaginable entered a company where 
 they were talking over the ceremonies of the 
 approaching funeral. Here I sat for some 
 time with an air of pert vivacity, when one 
 of the chief mourners immediately observing 
 my good humor desired me, if I pleased, to 
 go and grin somewhere else; they wanted 
 no disaffected scoundrels there. Finn, thou 
 son of Fo, what sort of people am I 
 amongst?" Whereunto shall I liken this 
 generation ? 
 
 There was a certain time when multitudes 
 
'•'- "CClit an£ Ibumor of tbe JSiblc. 
 
 followed Jesus, not knowing what they were 
 about, but simply swept along by the enthu- 
 siasm of the moment. lie saw that they 
 understood not, so he turned and gave them 
 this gentle caution : >r Which of you intend- 
 ing to build a tower sitteth not down first 
 and counteth the cost, whether he have suf- 
 ficient to finish it ? Lest, haply, after he hath 
 laid the foundation and is not able to finish, 
 all that behold it begin to mock him, saying. 
 This man began to build and was not able 
 to finish/' Whoever comes after me and 
 does not count upon bearing his cross, is in 
 the predicament of this foolish tower-builder, 
 — a ludicrous spectacle as he sits beside the 
 unfinished structure, his materials exhausted, 
 while all his neighbors, as they pass by, wag 
 the head and point the finger. Such a spec- 
 tacle as that will each one of you be who 
 does not count the cost of discipleship. 
 With such gentle strokes of humor did 
 Jesus stay the thoughtless multitudes who 
 imagined that their empty zeal was genuine 
 loyalty. lie set forth their conduct in terms 
 that would most effectually impress upon 
 them its folly, — in terms that appealed to 
 their sense of the ridiculous. 
 
£be Sense of tmmor in Scsue. 
 
 03 
 
 In a sarcastic paragraph of his French 
 Revolution, Carlyle speaks of the work of 
 the National Convention thus: r 'In fact, 
 what can be more unprofitable than the sight 
 of six hundred and forty-nine ingenious men 
 struggling with their whole force and indus- 
 try, for a long course of weeks, to do at 
 bottom this; to stretch out the old Formula 
 and Law phraseology, so that it may cover 
 the new, contradictory, entirely uucoverable 
 thing? Whereby the poor formula does but 
 crack and one's honesty along with it. The 
 thing that is palpably hot, burning, wilt thou 
 prove it by a syllogism to be a freezing mix- 
 ture? This of stretching out formulas till 
 they crack is, especially in times of swift 
 change, one of the sorrowfullest tasks poor 
 humanity has." Was it not this very for- 
 mula-stretching that Jesus satirized in more 
 playful vein. — this formula-stretching that 
 existed in old times and that still exists, — 
 when he said: K Xo man putteth a piece of 
 new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then, 
 both the new maketh a rent, and the piece 
 that was taken out of the new agreeth not 
 with the old"? You can not patch up old 
 
94 TOt an& Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 terms with new meanings. The new mean- 
 ing agreeth not with the old term. " And 
 no manputtethnew wine into old wine-skins; 
 else the new wine will burst the wine-skins 
 and be spilled, and the wine-skins shall per- 
 ish. But new wine must be put into new 
 wine-skins, and both are preserved." The 
 man who tries to put new senses into old 
 words, new ideas into old formulas, is like a 
 man who cuts up a new garment to mend an 
 old; like one who puts wine not yet done 
 fermenting into a skin whose capacity ad- 
 mits no further strain. He spoils his new 
 eoat and he loses his new wine. 
 
 With such illustrations as these, illustra- 
 tions embodying a figure or comparison or 
 situation essentially amusing, was Jesus 
 wont to temper his rebukes. 
 
 II. 
 
 The sense of humor in Jesus enabled him 
 to detect j^retension, imposture, hypocrisy, 
 and expose them to the derision of mankind. 
 
 If Ave should find in Dickens or Thack- 
 eray such pictures as Jesus has given of the 
 
Sbc Sense of Ibumor in Sesns. 
 
 95 
 
 Scribes and Pharisees, they would strike us 
 at once as the wvy quintessence of humor. 
 "They go arrayed in long clothing, they 
 love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the 
 chief seats in the synagogues." They are 
 always posturing to attract attention. " They 
 love greetings in the market-places, to be 
 called of men Rabbi, Rabbi." In their way, 
 they are as much given to "deportment" as 
 Mr. Turveydrop, when he says, " I suppose 
 I must now go and show myself about town ; 
 it will be expected of me;' When they 
 pray, they do it standing in the synagogues 
 or at the corners of the streets that all may 
 see how pions they are ; when they perform 
 their deeds of righteousness, a trumpet is 
 sounded before them, to make solemn proc- 
 lamation; as who should say, "Will the 
 public please take notice; I am about to 
 drop a mite into this poor widow's hand." 
 When they fast they put on "a sad counte- 
 nance and disfigure their faces" with 
 fictitious woe and weeping, "that they may 
 appear unto men to fast." "See how I lay 
 the dust with my tears," says Launce. 
 Everything they did was done for effect; 
 
96 vait and Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 nothing came from the heart. Their religion 
 was the veriest sham. They had well-nigh 
 reached the measure of South's ideal hypo- 
 crite, " who never opens his mouth in earnest, 
 but when he eats or breathes." Wellmight 
 Jesus say, "The Scribes and Pharisees sit in 
 Moses' seat; all things, therefore, whatsoever 
 they bid you observe, that observe and do, bid 
 do ye not according to their tvorls; for they 
 say and do not." Does not this remind us 
 of Pecksniff, " who was a most exemplary 
 man, fuller of virtuous precepts than a copy- 
 book; but some people likened him to a 
 direction-post which is always telling the 
 way to a place, and never goes there." 
 
 III. 
 
 Xot only did the sense of humor in Jesus 
 enable him to unmask pretentious hypocrites, 
 but also to expose the absurdities that the 
 multitudes commonly practiced in the name 
 of religion. 
 
 There are those, for example, who in 
 prayer use w vain repetitions," thinking that 
 they shall be heard for their "much speak- 
 
Zbc Sense of "Ibumor in $e£U0. 97 
 
 ing." They estimate the efficacy of prayer 
 by its quantity and not by its quality . They 
 think thai if they only keep al it long 
 enough, if they only use multitudes of words, 
 they will surely attract attention on high. 
 
 There arc others who think that religion 
 consists in the "washing* of pots and cups 
 and such like things" and they "lay aside 
 the commandment of God." One of their 
 representatives in modern literature is Dolly 
 Winthrop, who tells Silas Marner about the 
 letters " I. II. S." pricked upon the ( Jhristmas 
 cakes: " I can't read 'em myself , and there's 
 nobody, not Mr. Macey himself, rightly 
 knows what they mean; but they've a good 
 meaning, for they're the same as is on the 
 pulpit-cloth at Church; an' if there's any 
 good, we've need of it in this world." 
 
 It is curious how the superstition of ex- 
 ternalism has affected many, even noble 
 minds. Dr. Johnson once said of John 
 Campbell, a political and philosophical 
 writer, "Campbell is a good man, a pious 
 man; I'm afraid he has not been inside of a 
 church for a good many years, but he never 
 passes a church without pulling off his hat. 
 This shows he has good principles." 
 
98 TOt anfr Ibumor of the JBfble. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Jesus pereeived the blunders of the well- 
 meaning, but ignorant and ambitious, — such 
 as the man who went to the wedding party 
 without suitable garments, and was uncere- 
 moniously shown to the door; such as the 
 obtuse people who, invited to a feast, always 
 took the seats of honor and were as often 
 courteously escorted to scats further down 
 the tabic. When the "more honorable man" 
 came, the host would say, "Give this man 
 place," and the other would "begin with 
 shame to take the lowest scat." Jesus saw 
 these blunders, and we cannot believe that 
 he was blind to their comical side. He must 
 have felt that the mistake was a ludicrous 
 one, even when he advised the stupid people 
 who made it, "When thou ait bidden, go 
 and sit down in the lowest room; that when 
 he that bade thee comet h, he may say. 
 Friend, go up higher; and then thou shalt 
 have worship in the presence of them that sit 
 at meat with thee." 
 
 V. 
 
 The sense of humor in Jesus is still fur- 
 
Zhc Sense of fmmot in JesuB. ° 9 
 
 ther shown by his selection of characters for 
 his parables and illustrations. How many 
 of them arc what we should call " odd sticks" 
 to-day! 
 
 Could any < >ne devoid of humor, or opposed 
 to its use, have described such odd or eccen- 
 tric people as the fool who thought that sand 
 was as good a foundation for his house as 
 rock; or the drowsy friend roused at mid- 
 night to lend his neighbor bread and scolding 
 furiously at the annoyance? Then we have 
 the shepherd's coward hireling who ran away 
 from his flock when he saw the wolf coming; 
 the foolish rich man; the unscrupulous 
 steward who provided for himself by cheat- 
 ing his master; the three fellows who made 
 such puerile excuses for absenting them- 
 selves from the king's banquet, — one was 
 interested in a real estate transaction, 
 another was dealing in stock, while the 
 third had just "married a wife." Perhaps 
 the characterization of all these excuses as 
 puerile, may be too sweeping. This lasl 
 case may be an exception. Having just en- 
 tered the holy estate of matrimony, any 
 plans this man might have formed before 
 
1( W lUit at^ Ibumor of tbe Bible. 
 
 that event were of course subject to re- 
 vision. Let us not be too hard upon him. 
 It may be thai he rests under too heavy a 
 load of censure. lie may even be deserving 
 
 of sympathy. lie said — was there a sug- 
 gestion of desperation in his words? — K I 
 have married a wife and therefore I can not 
 come." The king ought very likely to have 
 exempted this man from his wrath; for he 
 seems to say, f 'I should like to come, 
 but— !" 
 
 Then there was the servant who, in his 
 lord's absence, got above his business, as- 
 sumed the master, became drunken in the 
 company of roisterers, and beat his fellow- 
 servants; but was at last put to shame by 
 the sudden and unexpected arrival of his 
 master. This servant was a veritable Jaques 
 who, in the old play, assumed to be his mas- 
 ter, the Duke, and who was likewise brought 
 to grief by his master's return: ff I must 
 appear important; big as a country peda- 
 gogue when he enters the school-room with 
 a-hem, and terrifies the apple-munching 
 urchins with the creaking of his shoes. I'll 
 swell like a shirt bleaching in a hiarh wind: 
 
£bc Sense of ih inner in Jceug. 101 
 
 and look as burly as a Sunday beadle when 
 he has kicked down the unhallowed stall of 
 a profane old apple-woman. Bring my chair 
 of state!" 
 
 There are other characters, such as the 
 shrewd laborer who, digging in a field, finds 
 a hidden treasure and secreting it goes and 
 buys the field; the unjust judge who finally, 
 completely tired out, gives way in no very 
 amiable mood to the widow's unceasing peti- 
 tions for justice; the timid soul, who, fearing 
 to use his talent, hid it in a napkin and buried 
 it in the earth; the self-righteous Pharisee 
 who recounts his good deeds before the 
 Lord of the Temple and complacently con- 
 gratulates himself that he is not as other 
 men! w God, T thank thee that I am not as 
 the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adul- 
 terers, or even as this publican. I fast twice 
 in the week; I give tithes of all that I get !" 
 Mr. Pecksniff once more! — so satisfied with 
 himself, f \s<> radiant with ingenuous honesty 
 that Mrs. Lupin almost wondered not to see 
 a stained-glass glory, such as the saint wore 
 in the church, shining about his head! "' 
 
102 -rot and tbumor of tbc Jeible. 
 
 VI. 
 
 In the introduction, reference was made 
 to the words of Mr. Shorthouse which sug- 
 gested this investigation. This seems a 
 fitting place to present the only example 
 in which Mr. Shorthouse lias carried out his 
 own suggestion, — the Parable of the Prodi- 
 gal Son. 
 
 I > 1 1 1 is it true that there is no humor in 
 the gospels? c What strokes of nature, if 
 not of humor,' to use Mr. Addison's words 
 again, may we find in the story, let us say, of 
 the Prodigal Son? What, in the light of the 
 modern conception of humor, will come out 
 of this? 
 
 Here, surely, there is no want of real life, of 
 low life, even. Here is a wild young scamp, as 
 like Tom Jones as heart could wish. Here is 
 ingratitude, forgetfulness of parents, riotous 
 living, taverns, harlots, what not? Then 
 beggary, and feeding swine, and living upon 
 husks. Then when evil living is found not 
 to answer, penitence — like Tom Jones 
 again. 
 
 And* when he was yet a great way off 
 
Gbc Sense of fjumor in Scsus. 103 
 
 his father saw him,' along the stony road be- 
 neath the vine-clad hills. Who can tell how 
 often the lather's eves had gazed longingly 
 down the road since his son's figure, gay, 
 reckless of the benefits just bestowed, ac- 
 companied by servants, eager for the pleas- 
 ures of the world, had vanished from his 
 sight? Now, at last, after so long waiting 
 and looking, he sees in the far distance, a 
 very different sight. lie sees a solitary fig- 
 ure, worn and bent down, in rags, dragging 
 on its weary steps; how could the old man's 
 gaze expect such a sight as this? Never- 
 theless, his father knew him, c and ran and 
 fell on his neck.' lie did not wait for any 
 accents of repentance, nor did he enforce 
 any moral precepts which might advantage 
 posterity. ? He fell on his neck and kissed 
 him.' Foolish old father! 
 
 Tom Jones is brought in. He goes to the 
 bath. The familiar feeling of luxury comes 
 over him once more. lie is clothed in fine 
 linen, and has a gold ring placed on his fin- 
 ger, the past seems an evil dream. Then 
 the fatted calf is killed. The banquet is 
 spread and there is festivity, music, and 
 dancing-girls. 
 
104 Wiit anfc Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 But suddenly, in the midst of his delight, 
 some trouble passes over the old man's face; 
 his eldesl son is not in his place, and they 
 bring him word that he is without and re- 
 fuses to come in. Some perception of a 
 neglected truth passes through the father's 
 mind, and he rises and goes out. r There- 
 fore came his father out and entreated him.' 
 
 The eldest son has been out all day work- 
 ing in the vineyards; all his life had been 
 one long performance of duty, taken for 
 granted, and therefore unpraised and unrec- 
 ognized. In how many households will 
 silent witness be borne that this is real life 
 — the gentle and obedient service over- 
 looked — nay, more than this, the cross word 
 or hasty temper where there is no fear that 
 it will be returned. 
 
 *A11 these years have I served thee * * * 
 and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I 
 might make merry with my friends.' I am 
 a man like others, gayety and feasting are 
 pleasant to me, as to them. 
 
 A look of perplexed, but growing insight 
 comes into the father's face. ? Son, thou art 
 ever with me, and all that I have is thine.' 
 
XLbc Sense of tbumot in Resits. ln: ' 
 
 This is all very well, still he is conscious 
 that there is something to be said for the 
 eldest son, too. But his lost son — his way- 
 ward, and therefore loved son, is conic again. 
 
 ? It is meet that we should make merry 
 and be glad, for this thy brother was dead 
 and is alive again.' We can see the pitiful, 
 pleading look in the old man's eyes, — 'thy 
 brother was dead/ 
 
 Yes, Addison must be right. Nature and 
 humor cannot he far apart. The source and 
 spring of humor is human life. Its charm 
 consists, not merely in laughter or even in 
 joy, but in the stirring of those sympathies 
 and associations which exist invariably in 
 the race; for we inherit a world-life and a 
 religion, the earth-springs of whose realities 
 lie, perchance, too deep for laughter, but not, 
 Heaven be praised, too deep for tears." 
 
 Surely the examples given suggest an eve 
 for the humorous in him who saw and 
 described them. These illustrations were 
 indeed, used to convey moral truths, but 
 they show how wide was the acquaintance 
 of Jesus with all sorts of characters, and how 
 he loved to use such as were out of the ordi- 
 
106 rat ano Ibumor of tbe JBiblc. 
 
 nary; such as, to-day, we should at least 
 call '"peculiar.'' A recognition of this fact 
 will help us better to appreciate and more 
 thoroughly to enjoy those simple, yet won- 
 derful parables, out of which the heavy hand 
 of a severely literal criticism would crush 
 all ff touches of nature." 
 
V. PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC SAYINGS. 
 
 " Proverbs, must not be passed over in our enumera- 
 tion, — proverbs, the philosophy of the common people ; 
 short, pithy, homely sayings that embody the concentrated 
 essence of the common people's wisdom. It has been 
 difficult to give a perfect definition of a proverb, so 
 crowded is it with the life of shrewdness and experience ; 
 yet so easy and negligent is it, and saucy as it were. Its 
 characteristic excellences are shortness, sense and salt. 
 It is the wit of one man, the wisdom of thousands." — 
 Macbeth. 
 
 (107) 
 
PROVERBS AND EPIGRAMMATIC 
 SAYINGS. 
 
 " The proverbialists occupy themselves with life in all its 
 aspects. Sometimes they simply catch the expression of 
 men, good or bad, or photograph their actions or thoughts; 
 more generally they pass a verdict npon them and exhort or 
 instruct men in regard to them. * * * Some of the prov- 
 erbs have a certain flavor of humor." — Davidson. 
 
 w The wise men of old," says Whipple, 
 " have sent most of their morality down the 
 stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm 
 or epigram: and the proverbs of nations 
 which embody the common sense of nations, 
 have the brisk concussion of the most spark- 
 ling wit. Almost every sensible remark on 
 folly is a witty remark. Wit is thus often 
 but the natural language of wisdom, viewing 
 life with a piercing and passionless eye." 
 The object of the present study is to con- 
 sider those proverbs and other epigrammatic 
 sayings which distinctly contain the element 
 of wit in some form or other, and which are 
 so liberally scattered over the pages of the 
 Bible. 
 
 CI«".0 
 
110 ^it and Ibumor of tbe Jfifble. 
 
 I. — The ]><>o k of Pbovekbs. 
 
 In such an investigation, Ave naturally 
 turn, first of all, to that great collection of 
 proverbs, with which the name of Solomon 
 has become identified. They do not, how- 
 ever, represent his genius alone, although 
 we shall frequently use his name as repre- 
 sentative of the whole class of philosophers. 
 They are the productions of many wise men 
 through many generations. They are, in- 
 deed, the outcome of the life of a whole 
 people, put into definite shape by those who 
 had insight sufficiently keen and power of 
 expression sufficiently terse to formulate the 
 lessons of human experience "The wise 
 men," says Canon Driver, " took for granted 
 the main postulates of Israel's creed, and 
 applied themselves rather to the observation 
 of human nature as such, seeking to analyze 
 character, studying action in its conse- 
 quences, and establishing morality upon the 
 basis of principles common to humanity at 
 large. On account of their prevailing dis- 
 regard of national points of view, and their 
 tendency to characterize and estimate human 
 
proverbs anft Epigrammatic Savings, i ] ] 
 
 nature under its most general aspect-, they 
 have been termed, not inappropriately, the 
 Humanists of Israel. Their teaching had a 
 practical aim; not only do they formulate 
 maxims of conduct, but they appear also as 
 moral advisers, and as interested in the edu- 
 cation of the young." 
 
 The Book of Proverbs is a perfect mine 
 of cunning and glittering sentences, many 
 of which are witty as well as wise, and none 
 the less wise because they are witty. There 
 are swords that pierce the hidden motives of 
 men, and whips that lacerate the backs of 
 their open follies and sins. 
 
 1. The Fool. 
 
 There is a personage, or more exactly, an 
 assemblage of certain qualities, constantly 
 held up to ridicule under the general title of 
 The Fool. Kuskin says that f<r folly and sin 
 are to some extent synonymous." The Fool 
 in the Book of Proverbs is one who com- 
 bines mental stupidity with moral obtuseness. 
 lie has a hard time of it at the hands of the 
 proverbialists. ' f IIe that begetteth a fool 
 
1 1 2 TOt and tmmot of tbe JBible. 
 
 cloeth so to his sorrow j the father of a fool 
 hath no joy." 
 
 Foolish persons have always been noted 
 for parading their folly, and sounding a 
 trumpet to proclaim their lack of under- 
 standing. So Solomon says: fr A fool's 
 mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the 
 snare of his soul." rc The tongue of the wise 
 useth knowledge aright; but the mouth of 
 fools poureth out foolishness." f When he 
 that is a fool walketh in the way, his wisdom 
 faileth him, and he saith to every one that he 
 is a fool," — his scanty supply of sense is not 
 enough to last him to the end of his journey. 
 There is a modern proverb to the same 
 effect: Pf lie has not wit enough to last him 
 over night." Everything the fool under- 
 takes comes to grief. " He that sendeth a 
 message by the hand of a fool cutteth off 
 the feet and drinketh damage." w The lal m >r 
 of the fool wearieth every one, because he 
 knoweth not how to go to the city." " The 
 simple belie veth every word, bat the prudent 
 man looketh well to his going." "Let a 
 bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather 
 than a fool in his folly." ]So discipline can 
 
proverbs an& Epigrammatic savings. 113 
 
 be too severe for the fool. * Judgments are 
 prepared for scorners and stripes for the 
 1 >ack of fools." " A whip for the horse, a bri- 
 dle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's baek." 
 But Solomon is not sanguine that the most 
 rigorous course will produce extraordinary 
 results. ".V reproof entereth more into a 
 wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool." 
 ''Wisdom is before him that hath under- 
 standing; but the eyes of a fool are in the 
 ends of the earth." * Wherefore is there a 
 price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, 
 seeing he hath no heart to it?" One can 
 almost see that picture — the fool wander- 
 ing about the city with money in his hand, 
 inquiring where a person in need of it might 
 purchase a commodity of good common 
 sense. " Though thou shouldst bray a fool 
 in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet 
 will not his foolishness depart from him." 
 In many other proverbs is the fool gibbeted. 
 ' ? As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, 
 so honor is not seemly for a fool." r The 
 legs of the lame are not equal ; ><> is a para- 
 ble in the mouth of fools/' "As lie that 
 bindeth a stone in a slmsr, ; making a danerer- 
 
1 14 "OEM anD Ibumor of tbc JBible. 
 
 ous weapon, so is he that giveth honor to a 
 fool." ' ? As a thorn goeth up into the hand 
 of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth 
 of fools." ff It is better to hear the rebuke 
 of the wise, than for a man to hear the song 
 of fools. For as the crackling of thorns 
 under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool." 
 In one chapter Solomon describes a group 
 of foolish persons. fc For three things the 
 earth is disquieted and for four which it can 
 not bear; for a servant when he reigneth " — 
 the modern instance is the " beggar on horse- 
 back," — ff and a fool when he is filled with 
 meat; for an odious woman when she is 
 married; and a handmaid that is heir to her 
 mistress." These four characters "play 
 such fantastic tricks before high heaven," 
 that whether the P? angels weep " or not, the 
 earth groans and is ff disquieted." And yet 
 Solomon seems to have found a more gro- 
 tesque and incorrigible character than the 
 fool: " Seest thou a man wise in his own 
 conceit? There is more hope of a fool than 
 of him." The contempt of the proverbialists 
 for the class of persons here described was 
 quite as strong as that of Dr. Samuel John- 
 
proverbs anD Epigrammatic Stagings. 115 
 
 son. When some one Imped that the good 
 doctor might meet in heaven a certain per- 
 son whose conduct had aroused Ids ire, he 
 retorted with some warmth, " Madam, I am 
 not fond of meeting fools anywhere." 
 
 2. The Idler. 
 
 How these writers love to castigate lazi- 
 ness! They toss the sluggard on all manner 
 of sharp-pointed epigrams. fr lie that gath- 
 ereth in summer is a wise son ; he that sleep- 
 eth in harvest is a son that causeth shame." 
 w The way of a slothful man is as a hedge of 
 thorns," — he walks as slowly and painfully 
 as if avoiding thorns on either hand. "As 
 vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the 
 eves, so is the sluggard to them that send 
 him." "The slothful man roasteth not that 
 which he took in hunting:." f The sluggard 
 will not plough by reason of the cold, there- 
 fore he shall beg in harvest and have noth- 
 ing. " "Drowsiness shall clothe a man with 
 rags." " He that tilleth his land shall be 
 satisfied with bread; but he that followeth 
 vain persons" — those who teach him that 
 
1 16 -mix and f>umot of tbe JBiblc. 
 
 there* is any other way to success than hon- 
 est industry, — "is void of understanding." 
 " The slothful man says, There is a lion 
 without; I shall be slain in the streets." 
 " As the door turneth upon its hinges, so 
 doth the slothful upon his bed." 'The sloth- 
 ful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth 
 him to bring it again to his mouth." Too 
 lazy to eat! This is the very acme of indo- 
 lence. 
 
 3. The Babbler. 
 
 These wise men recommend, in pithy 
 terms, the judicious control of the tongue. 
 They commend the value of silence. 
 K Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue 
 keepeth his soul from troubles." ? The be- 
 grinning of strife is as when one letteth out 
 water; therefore leave off contention before 
 it be meddled with." "It is an honor to a 
 man to cease from strife, but every fool will 
 be meddling." "Even a fool when he hold- 
 eth his peace is accounted wise; and he that 
 shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of under- 
 standing." This is the same idea which Ave 
 
proverbs ano Epigrammatic Savings. i 1 7 
 
 find, in more; elaborate form, in Shake- 
 speare : 
 
 " There are a sort of men, whose visages 
 Do cream and mantle like a standing pond ; 
 And do a wilful stillness entertain, 
 With purpose to be drest in an opinion 
 Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit; 
 As who should say, ' I am Sir Oracle, 
 And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark ! ' 
 Oh, my Antonio, I do know of these, 
 That therefore only are reputed wise 
 For saying nothing : Who, I am very sure, 
 If they should speak, would almost damn these ears, 
 Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools." 
 
 In point of condensation, the wit of the 
 proverb has the advantage. Coleridge re- 
 lates an incident which illustrates that "even 
 a fool when he holdeth his peace is ac- 
 counted wise, and he that slmtteth his lips 
 is esteemed a man of understanding." He 
 once saw, at a dinner table, ' r a dignified 
 man with a face as wise as the moon's." The 
 awful charm of his manner was not broken 
 until the muffins appeared, and then the imp 
 of gluttony forced from him the exclama- 
 tion — " Them's the jockeys for me! " 
 
118 rat an& tmmor of tbe JBtble. 
 
 There is a passage concerning the tongue 
 in the Book of James, full of sayings quite 
 as terse and striking as any in the Book of 
 Proverbs. r ' If any man offend not in word, 
 the same is a perfect man, and able also to 
 bridle the whole body." "The tongue is a 
 little member and boasteth great things; be- 
 hold how great a matter a little fire kin- 
 dleth." "Every kind of beasts and birds 
 and serpents is tamed, and hath been tamed 
 of mankind; but the tongue can no man 
 tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly 
 poison. * * * Out of the same mouth 
 proceedeth blessing and cursing. * * * 
 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place 
 sweet water and bitter?" 
 
 This passage from James may be placed 
 side by side with the familiar story of ^Esop. 
 His master, Xanthus, sent him to market 
 to procure the best things it afforded. 
 When the dinner hour arrived, Xanthus dis- 
 covered that nothing but tongues had been 
 provided. ""What," he exclaimed in a rage, 
 K did I not tell you to procure the best things 
 the market afforded?" "And have I not 
 obeyed your orders? Is there anything bet- 
 
proverbs ano Spfgrammatic Savings, H9 
 
 ter than a tongue? Is it not the bond of civil 
 society, the organ of truth and reason, the 
 instrument of our praise and adoration of 
 the gods?" The next clay iEsop was 
 directed to go to the market and purchase 
 the worst things il afforded. He did so and 
 again purchased nothing hut tongues. 
 " What! " cried Xanthus, "tongues again?" 
 "Certainly; for the tongue is surely the 
 worst thing in the world; it is the instru- 
 ment of all strife and contention, the inven- 
 tor of law-suits, and the source of all division 
 and wars; it is the organ of errors, of lies, 
 of calumnies, and blasphemies." 
 
 " Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, 
 and therewith curse we men who are made 
 after the likeness of God; out of the same 
 mouth cometh forth cursing and blessing." 
 
 4. The Scold. 
 
 To return to the proverbs. Solomon had 
 some unhappy domestic experiences, and 
 such proverbs as these may have been the 
 outcome : "vVs a jewel of gold in a swine's 
 snout, so is a fair woman without discre- 
 
120 TKn.it ano Ibumor of tbe »!We. 
 
 tion." K A continual dropping in a very 
 rainy day, and a contentious woman are 
 
 alike. Whosoever hideth her, hideth the 
 wind." "It is better to dwell in the wilder- 
 ness than with a contentious and angry 
 woman." ff Better is a dinner of herbs 
 where love is than a stalled ox and hatred 
 therewith." w It is better to dwell in the 
 corner of a house top than with a brawling 
 woman in a large house." 
 
 5. The Power of Money. 
 
 The proverbialists had been close observ- 
 ers of human nature, and of the ways of the 
 world. f * Hell and destruction are never 
 full, so the eyes of a man are never satis- 
 fied." w A feast is made for laughter, and 
 wine maketh merry; but money answereth 
 all things." rf The rich ruleth over the poor, 
 and the borrower is servant to the lender." 
 These wise men had seen much to justify 
 the sharp arrows they shot at those "who 
 crook the pregnant hinges of the knee 
 where thrift may follow fawning." "The 
 pool' is hated even of his own neighbor, but 
 
U>rovcrbs anfr Bpifirammattc 5av>fnflg. 121 
 
 the rich hath many friends." "Many will 
 entreat the favor of a prince, and every man 
 is a friend to him that giveth gifts." "A 
 man's gift maketh room for him, and bring- 
 
 eth him before great men/' There is an 
 incident in the second Book of Kings, that 
 exemplifies, with touches of humor, the 
 truth of these proverbs. "And the king 
 of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, 
 (king of Israel,) for he had sent messen- 
 gers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no 
 present to the ling of Assyria, as he had 
 done year by year." The king of Assyria 
 is greatly shocked at this sign of disre- 
 spect. His feelings are outraged and 
 wounded at receiving no present. It is 
 suspicious, very suspicious ! Let this 
 Hoshea be looked to. The man who fails 
 to bring the usual present is fit for "trea- 
 sons, stratagems and spoils." There is no 
 telling what evil he may be plotting. Sure- 
 ly there is "conspiracy in him." "There- 
 fore, the king of Assyria shut him up and 
 bound him in prison." Solomon was right — 
 "A man's gift bringeth him before great 
 men," but the absence of it bringeth him 
 into prison as a traitor I 
 
122 TOt anD Ibumoc of tbe :©fble. 
 
 6. Miscellaneous. 
 
 Many other examples of wit and wisdom 
 might be given. Let ns add a few miscel- 
 laneous ones. Solomon advises against 
 making long calls. Busy men would do 
 well to hang this motto up in their offices : 
 w Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's 
 house, lest he weary of thee and so hate 
 thee." In Solomon's wide and varied ex- 
 periences, there had evidently been occa- 
 sional encounters with "bores." 
 
 It may sometimes be well to present a 
 stern front to the slanderer : "The Xorth 
 wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry 
 countenance a back-biting tongue." 
 
 Excellent advice this for those who in- 
 dorse other people's notes : cr Be not one of 
 them that strike hands, or one of them that 
 are sureties for debts ; if thou hast nothing 
 to pay, why should he take away thy bed 
 from under thee ?" "He that hateth sure- 
 ty ship is sure." 
 
 There were those in that day, as well as 
 in our own, who tried to beat down the 
 price of an article by depreciating its qual- 
 
proverbs ano jepforammatlc Savings. 123 
 
 ity : "It is naught, it is naught, saith the 
 buyer ; but when lie hath gone his way, 
 then he boasteth." Donald G. Mitchell, 
 in his charming book, Jfy Farm at Edge" 
 wood, has a chapter on "Dickering" which 
 is, in effeet, an elaboration of the proverb 
 last quoted. K Sometime or other, if a man 
 enter upon farm life — and it holds in almost 
 every kind of life — there will come to him 
 a necessity for bargaining. It is a part of 
 the curse, I think, entailed npon mankind 
 at the expulsion from Eden, that they should 
 sweat at a bargain. * * * If I were to 
 take the opinions of my excellent friends, the 
 purchasers, for truth, I should be pain- 
 fully conscious of having possessed the 
 most mangy hogs, the most aged cows, the 
 scrubbiest veal, and the most diseased and 
 stunted growth of chestnuts and oaks with 
 which a country-liver was ever afflicted. 
 For a time, in the early period of my novi- 
 tiate, I was not a little disturbed by these 
 damaging statements ; but have been re- 
 lieved by learning on further experience 
 that the urgence of such lively falsehoods is 
 only an ingenious mercenary device for the 
 sharpening of a bargain." 
 
124 tom anfc Ibumor of tbe Bible. 
 
 IT. — Epigrammatic Sayings from other 
 Sources. 
 
 The epigrammatic sayings of the Bible 
 are not confined, as Ave have already seen, 
 to the Book of Proverbs. We find them 
 elsewhere. Ilosea says of idolaters, "They 
 have sown the wind and they shall reap the 
 whirlwind." Micah declared of the mer- 
 cenary prophets, "He that pntteth not into 
 their month, they even declare war against 
 him." At the same time princes and judges 
 are so corrupt, that "the best of them is as 
 a briar ; the most upright is sharper than a 
 thorn hedge." 
 
 Jeremiah charges against the people, "As 
 a cage is full of birds, so are their houses of 
 deceit." "Can the Ethiopian," he asks, 
 " change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" 
 and adds, " Then can ye also do right who 
 are accustomed to do evil." This is -equiva- 
 lent to the proverb of another people: 
 " Though you feed milk to a young snake, 
 will it leave off its habit of creeping under 
 the hedge?" 
 
 " Can a maid forget her ornaments or a 
 
proverbs ano epigrammatic Savings. 125 
 
 bride her attire?" asks Jeremiah; "yet my 
 people have forgotten me days without num- 
 ber." "Yea, the stork in the heavens know- 
 eth her appointed times; and the turtle and 
 the crane and the swallow observe the time 
 of their coming; but my people know not 
 the judgment of the Lord." "As the par- 
 tridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them 
 not; so he that getteth riches and not by 
 right, shall leave them in the middle of his 
 days, and at the end shall be a fool." 
 
 Isaiah admonishes the people, "Lo, thou 
 trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on 
 Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go 
 into his hand and pierce it; so is Pharoah, 
 king of Egypt, to all who trust in him," — 
 a saying which calls to mind the message 
 Jesus sent to Herod, " Go, tell that fox." To 
 those who trusted in the prowess of the 
 Egyptians, Isaiah declares, K Xow, the 
 Egyptians are men and not God; and their 
 horses are flesh and not spirit." He assures 
 the people that the time will come when 
 names shall be used with greater discrimina- 
 tion, — "The vile person shall no more be 
 called liberal, nor the churl said to be boun- 
 tiful." 
 
126 -emit ano fmmot of tbe .iBible. 
 
 Job says : w For vain man would be wise, 
 though man be born like a wild ass's colt." 
 And it is Job who has given us the common 
 expression, " I am escaped with the skin of 
 my teeth." 
 
 David says of the hypocrite: — "The 
 words of his mouth were smoother than but- 
 ter, but war was in his heart; his words 
 were softer than oil, but they were drawn 
 swords." "Man that is in honor and under- 
 standeth not, is like the beasts which perish." 
 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no 
 God." Of the wicked the psalmist exclaims: 
 w Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; 
 they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth 
 her ear; which will not hearken to the voice 
 of charmers, charming never so wisely." 
 Recalling an incident of Israel's journey 
 through the wilderness, he gives his opinion 
 of the transaction Aaron tried to disclaim : 
 " They made a calf in Iloreb and worshipped 
 the molten image. Thus they changed their 
 glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth 
 <rrass ! " " Fools, because of their trans- 
 gressions and because of their iniquities are 
 afflicted." He says of those who gave him 
 
proverbs and Epigrammatic Savings. 127 
 
 pain, — the " ploughers \\ bo ploughed upon 
 his back and made long their furrows," — 
 "They shall be as the grass upon the house- 
 tops which withereth before it groweth up; 
 wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, 
 nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom." 
 
 Paul speaks of those "whose God is their 
 belly, and whose glory is their shame; " and 
 also of certain ones who w speak lies in hy- 
 pocrisy, having- their conscience seared with 
 a red-hot iron/' "Rulers," he says, w are 
 not a terror to good works, but to evil." "If 
 a man thinketh himself to be something: 
 when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." 
 
 The Book of James has already been 
 quoted in this chapter; but there is another 
 passage of the proverbial or epigrammatic 
 character that must not be omitted: "Be 
 ye doers of the word and not hearers only, 
 deceiving your own selves. For if any man 
 be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he 
 is like unto a man beholding his natural face 
 in a glass; for he beholdeth himself and 
 goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth 
 what manner of man he was." The Teman 
 proverb is very like this: ' Whatever he 
 
128 xuit and *>umor of tbe JBible. 
 
 devoid of understanding may be reading, 
 his virtue continues only so long as he is 
 reading; even as a frog is dignified only so 
 long as it is seated on a lotus leaf." 
 
 One of the best examples of the kind of 
 wit we are now discussing is found in the 
 account of King Asa's sickness and death. 
 The writer of the Book of Chronicles says : 
 T Yet in his disease he sought not unto the 
 Lord, but to the Physicians; " and then adds 
 with imperturbable gravity, ff And Asa slept 
 with his fathers." Referring to this passage, 
 Professor Matthews says: — ff It looks like 
 a sarcasm on the medical practitioners of 
 Palestine.*' There is something similar to 
 this in Ecclesiastes : 'Wisdom is good — 
 with an inheritance," an ancient instance of 
 "the old flag — and an appropriation." 
 
 III. — The Sayings of Jesus. 
 
 To this chapter belong many of the say- 
 ings of Jesus. He spoke in proverbs as 
 well as in parables. 
 
 f * It is easier for a camel to go through 
 the eye of a needle than for a rich man to 
 enter the kingdom of heaven." 
 
proverbs ano Epigrammatic Sa^inos. 129 
 
 "Many are called, but few are chosen." 
 
 "The first shall be last, and the last first." 
 
 "A prophet is not without honor save in 
 his own country and among his friends." 
 
 ff lie that humbleth himself shall be ex- 
 alted; he that exalteth himself shall be 
 abased." 
 
 "Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as 
 doves." 
 
 " Physician, heal thyself." 
 
 '*Ye are the light of the world; a city 
 that is set on an hill can not be hid. Neither 
 do men light a candle and put it under a 
 bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth 
 light unto all that are in the house." 
 
 n Let the dead bury their dead." 
 
 w Nb man having put his hand to the 
 plough and looking back is fit for the 
 kingdom of God." 
 
 "And why beholdest thou the mote that 
 is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not 
 the beam that is in thine own eye?" There 
 are several proverbs in other literatures 
 very like this. The Russian: — "A pig 
 came up to a horse and said, Your feet are 
 crooked, and your hair is worth nothing." 
 
130 TKflit ant) "fcumor of tbe JBfblc. 
 
 The Bengal: — "The sieve said to the 
 needle, Yon have a hole in your tail." The 
 Chinese: — "Let every one sweep the snow 
 before his own door, and not busy himself 
 with the frost on his neighbor's tiles." 
 
 :f Ye can not serve God and Mammon." 
 
 "A house divided against itself can not 
 stand." 
 
 K Beware of false prophets which come to 
 you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they 
 are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them 
 by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of 
 thorns or figs of thistles? " 
 
 "For unto every one that hath to him 
 shall be given and he shall have abundance ; 
 but from him that hath not shall be taken 
 away even that which he hath." 
 
 " Wheresoever the carcass is, there are 
 the vultures gathered together." 
 
 w Give not that which is holy unto the 
 dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before 
 swine, lest they trample them under foot and 
 turn again and rend you." Similar proverbs 
 may be gathered from other sources. The 
 Persian says, " It is folly to give comfits to 
 a cow;" the Yeman, "Though yon anoint 
 
proverbs ano Epigrammatic Savirms. 131 
 
 an ass all over with perfumes, it feels not 
 your fondness, hut will turn again and kick 
 you;" the Telugu asks, w What caii a pig- 
 do with a rose-bottle?" the Tamul says, 
 f? Like reading a portion of the Veda to a 
 eow about to gore you;" and again, 
 "Though religious instruction he whispered 
 into the ear of an ass, nothing will come of 
 it hut the accustomed braying." 
 
 "They that are whole need not a phy- 
 sician, but they that are sick." Such say- 
 ings of Jesus are true proverbs and instances 
 of genuine wit. 
 
 Archbishop Trench says, "Any one who 
 by after investigation, has sought to discover 
 how much our rustic hearers carry away 
 even from sermons to which they have atten- 
 tively listened, will find it is hardly ever the 
 course or tenor of the argument, supposing 
 the discourse to have contained such; but 
 if anything is uttered, as it used so often to 
 be by the best Puritan preachers, tersely, 
 pointedly and epigrammatically, this will 
 have stayed by them while all the rest has 
 passed away. Great preachers to the peo- 
 ple, such as have ever found their way to 
 
132 TOt ano Ibumor of tbe JBtble. 
 
 the universal heart of their fellows, have 
 ever been great employers of proverbs." 
 This principle helps to explain why, in the 
 case of Jesus, " the common people heard 
 him gladly." 
 
VI. REPARTEE. 
 
 " He that can define, he that can answer a question 
 so as to admit of no further answer, is the best man. 
 Jesus spent his life conversing with humble people on life 
 and duty, in giving wise answers, showing that he saw 
 at a larger angle of vision, and at least silencing those 
 who were not generous enough to accept his thoughts." — 
 Emerson. 
 
 <m) 
 
REPARTEE. 
 
 "And no one was able to answer him a word, neither 
 durst any man from that day forth ask him any more ques- 
 tions." — Matthi "•. 
 
 The present chapter brings us to the sub- 
 ject of Repartee. Of this form of wit, Pro- 
 fessor Matthews says, "Xothing is more 
 admirable, nothing more quickly enlists our 
 sympathies, than this perfect command and 
 quick, instantaneous concentration of the 
 faculties, when a man is taken at a disad- 
 vantage and has to repel an insinuation or 
 an insult at a moment's warning. That 
 felicity of instantaneous analysis which we 
 call readiness, has saved thousands of men 
 from mortification or contempt. The dex- 
 trous leap of thought by which the mind 
 escapes from a seemingly hopeless dilemma 
 is worth more than all the logic and learn- 
 ing of the world." "The impromptu reply," 
 says Moliere, "is precisely the touchstone 
 of wit." 
 
136 -rat anfc tmmor of tbe JBiblc. 
 
 The images of the Bible are sometimes 
 enlivened by sharp repartees. The men of 
 old time, the men of the Hebrew nation, 
 understood the power of the quick and 
 flashing answer, as well as more modern 
 generations. Johnson and Foote and 
 Sheridan might have found it by no means 
 easy to hold their own in Judea. It is very 
 likely that their powers would have been 
 put to the severest test. 
 
 I. 
 
 Turning to the pages of the old Testa- 
 ment, we find many striking examples. 
 
 Ben-hadad sends word to the king of 
 Israel, threatening to destroy his army. 
 The king of Israel replies, "Tell him, 
 Let not him that girdeth on his harness, 
 boast himself as he that putteth it off." 
 
 Amaziah desired war with Jehoash. He 
 sends to him saying, "Come, let us look 
 one another in the face." Jehoash simply 
 responds to the presumptuous challenge, 
 "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to 
 the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, 
 
•Repartee. 137 
 
 Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And 
 there passed by a wild beast that was in 
 Lebanon and trod down the thistle." 
 
 Job retorts upon Zophar, alter a weari- 
 some recital of dreary commonplaces in- 
 tended for comfort, "No doubt but ye are 
 the people, and wisdom will die with you. 
 But I have understanding as well as you; 
 I am not inferior to you; yea, who know- 
 eth not such things as these?" To the 
 speech introduced by these words, Eliphaz 
 sharply replies, "Art thou the first man 
 that Avas born? or wast thou made before 
 the hills? Hast thou heard the secret of 
 God, and dost thou restrain wisdom to thy- 
 self? What knowest thou that we know 
 not? What understandest thou which is 
 not in us? With us are both the gray- 
 headed and very aged men, much elder 
 than thy father." Upon this latter senti- 
 ment Elihu expresses himself when he finds 
 opportunity to put in a word ; " Great men 
 are not always wise, neither do the aged 
 understand judgment." 
 
 Indeed the Book of Job abounds in sharp 
 speeches and replies as cutting as the speeches 
 
138 xuit m* Ibumor of tbe JBfble. 
 
 they answer. The sufferer obstinately re- 
 fuses to accept their theory of his affliction 
 or to adopt the remedies his friends propose. 
 * Ye are forgers of lies," he exclaims, " ye 
 are physicians of no value. O that ye would 
 altogether hold your peace, and it should be 
 your wisdom." In response to this appeal, 
 Eliphaz becoming piqued proceeds to ad- 
 minister consolation with the lash: " Shall 
 a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his 
 belly with the east wind? Should he reason 
 with unprofitable talk or with speeches 
 wherewith he can do no good?" "I have 
 heard many such things," cries the wretched 
 Job, "miserable comforters are ye all. If 
 your soul were in my soul's stead, I could 
 heap up words against you, and shake mine 
 head at you; but I would strengthen you 
 with my mouth, and the moving of my lips 
 should assuage your grief." 
 
 There were some word-battles between 
 Sanballat and Xehemiah while the latter was 
 trying to build the walls of Jerusalem, and 
 the former was doing his best to hinder the 
 enterprise. "Come," says Sanballat, "let 
 us meet together in one of the villages in 
 
"Repartee. 139 
 
 the plain of Ono," — let us be friendly, let us 
 have a pleasant visit together, — "but he 
 thought to do me mischief." The crafty 
 Sanballat did not take the builder of Jeru- 
 salem napping. Nehemiah replies, "lam 
 doing a great work so that I can not come 
 down; why should the work cease whilst I 
 leave it to come down to you?" Are your 
 wishes of such mighty importance, O Sanbal- 
 lat that I should leave the Lord's work? Must 
 the building cease that I may gratify your 
 whim? Go to, Sanballat, go to; I cannot 
 come down. My work is great and noble; 
 thou art a trifler and hypocrite! In pre- 
 cisely this vein was Spurgeon's reply to the 
 pious bore who sent up word, " Tell him a 
 servant of the Lord wishes to see him." It 
 was Saturday afternoon, and Spurgeon re- 
 plied, " Tell him I am busy with his Master!" 
 Sanballat will have at him again: "It is 
 reported among the heathen, and Gashmu 
 said it, that thou and the Jews think to 
 rebel; for which cause thou bulkiest the 
 wall that thou mayest be their king, accord- 
 ing to these words. And thou hast appointed 
 prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, 
 
140 -OEM ano Ibumor of tbe JBlblc. 
 
 saying, There is a king in Judah ; and now 
 shall it be reported to the king according to 
 these words. Come now, therefore, and let 
 ns take counsel together." To this tissue 
 of falsehoods manufactured by the menda- 
 cious Gashmu, Nehemiah flashes back with 
 indignation, ?r There are no such things as 
 thou sayest, but thou f eignest it out of thine 
 own heart." Nehemiah comes very near 
 giving what Touchstone would call the " lie 
 direct," and he gives it without the qualify- 
 ing "If." 
 
 Robert Collyer has the following com- 
 ment upon Gashmu, who was quoted by 
 Sanballat as authority for the charge that 
 Xehemiah was going to set up for a king : 
 " This only, this one thing is left: A good 
 man was doing a good work with all his 
 might, and bad men tried to hinder him. 
 They tried to hurt his person. Gashmu was 
 above that. He was none of your common 
 rowdies. Sanballat and Tobiah might do 
 that, but not Gashmu ; yet Gashmu will sit 
 there and nurse his dislike, and be glad to hear 
 the petty stories that float like thistledown 
 through the neighborhood against the inno- 
 
•Repartee. 141 
 
 cent man; words are twisted and turned to 
 meanings Nehemiah never thought of, and 
 Gashmu hopes they are true; he wishes they 
 were true; the wish is father to the thought, 
 and he believes them. * * * So Gashmu 
 has permitted his prejudices to grow into a 
 lie. Gashmu is to live thousands of years 
 for one purely false assertion, and to be the 
 representative man of unprincipled gossips 
 and narrow bigots as long as the world 
 stands." 
 
 Another illustration. When the woman, 
 in time of famine, appealed to the King of 
 Israel as he passed by, fr Help, my lord, O 
 King," he turned upon her with the some- 
 what grim rejoinder, " If the Lord do not 
 help thee, whence shall I help thee?" Her 
 case was hopeless, if the Lord could do 
 nothing. 
 
 Although the resemblance is not very 
 strong, this incident suggests a story of 
 Michael Angelo. It calls to mind the way 
 in which he took revenge upon Biagio di 
 Cesena. This courtier ventured to criticise 
 his Last Judgment. With a swift stroke he 
 turned the Minos of the fresco into a like- 
 
142 xdit anfc fbumor of tbe JBfble. 
 
 ness of his critic. Biagio complained to the 
 Pope. "Where has he placed you?" in- 
 quired the Pontiff. w In Hell," said Biagio. 
 "lain sorry," replied the Pope; "If it had 
 been in Purgatory, something might have 
 been done, but in Hell I have no jurisdic- 
 tion." 
 
 II. 
 
 Examples of prompt and keen retort are 
 not confined to the Old Testament. When 
 we turn to the Mew Testament, we find 
 additional illustrations. 
 
 When Paul was making his defence be- 
 fore the Council, he said, "Men and breth- 
 ren, I have lived in all good conscience be- 
 fore God until this day." This declaration 
 of innocence offended the High Priest An- 
 anias, and he commanded those who stood 
 by, to smite the speaker on the mouth. 
 This raised the indignation of Paul, and 
 with the swiftness of an arrow he transfixed 
 the Priest, "God shall smite thee, thou 
 whited wall; for sittest thou to judge me 
 after the law and commandest me to be 
 smitten contrary to the law?" This was 
 
IRcpartcc. 143 
 
 understood as a bolt of invective by those 
 
 who heard it, for they asked in alarm, "Ke- 
 vilest thou God's High Priest?" The an- 
 swer of Paul was a still more subtle sarcasm: 
 w I wist not, brethren, that he was the High 
 
 Priest" There was nothing in the conduct 
 of the man to betoken the dignity of his 
 office. God's High Priest must surely be 
 fair and impartial. God's High Priest 
 would never counsel violence. The mis- 
 take, Paul would imply, was perfectly nat- 
 ural and excusable. 
 
 There is a story of John Randolph not 
 unlike this. Indeed, the sarcasm is the 
 same in spirit and purpose. Paul admitted 
 that "one must not revile God's High 
 Priest," but he did not perceive that the 
 High Priest was present. The coarse, loud, 
 ill-tempered person who commanded to 
 smite him on the mouth could not be High 
 Priest ! The following was the occasion of 
 Randolph's sarcasm: During the winter of 
 1834 a member of the House, to whom he 
 was much attached, died. His place was 
 taken by a young man, vain and ambitious, 
 who began his career by making a bitter 
 
144 -rot an& Ibumot of tbe JBfble. 
 
 attack on Mr. Randolph. Xo reply was 
 made by the latter. Several days passed, 
 when a question came up in which he was 
 deeply interested, and he delivered a very 
 earnest and impressive speech. As he 
 closed, he said, "I should not, Mr. Speak- 
 er, have returned to press this matter with 
 so much earnestness, had not my views pos- 
 sessed the sanction and concurrence of my 
 late departed friend, ivliose seat, I lament, 
 is now unhappily vacant" 
 
 How skillfully, in the story of the young 
 man who had heen healed of his blindness, 
 does the subject of the cure parry the 
 thrusts of the synagogue authorities! 
 "Give God the praise," they exhort, "we 
 know that this man is a sinner! " K Whether 
 he be a sinner or no," says the young man, 
 "I can not tell; one thing I know that 
 whereas I was blind, now I see." Thus 
 repulsed, they begin again. "What did he 
 to thee? How opened he thine eyes?" 
 He replies, "I have told you already, and 
 ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear 
 it again? Will ye also be his disciples?" 
 Stung to the quick, they revile him, w Thou 
 
"Repartee. 145 
 
 art his disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. 
 We know that God spake unto Moses, hut 
 as for this fellow we know not from whence 
 he is!" Thoroughly aroused, the young 
 man sends home to them a final thrust: 
 w Why herein is a marvelous thing that ye 
 know not from whence he is, and yet he 
 hath opened mine eyes? Xow we know 
 that God heareth not sinners; but if any 
 man be a worshipper of God and doeth his 
 will, him he heareth. Since the world be- 
 gan, was it not heard that any man opened 
 the eyes of one born blind. If this man 
 were not of God, he could do nothing!" 
 Abuse and excision alone remain to the 
 rulers of the synagogue. "Thou wast alto- 
 gether born in sins, and dost thou teach 
 us?" And they cast him out. Excommu- 
 nication is the sole answer of priest-craft 
 and bigotry to reason. 
 
 III. 
 
 To many readers it may seem impious to 
 say that under the head of Repartee we 
 must classify many of those words of Jesus 
 
146 TOt and fmmot of tbe JGible. 
 
 with which he cuts through the sophistry of 
 opponents and disentangles himself from 
 theAvebs that are woven about him. Let it 
 be remembered, however, that we are deal- 
 ing with his utterances simply as literature ; 
 with their religious significance, we are not 
 now concerned. We are discussing the 
 sayings of Jesus as we would the sayings 
 of Johnson or Goldsmith. 
 
 One of the most striking instances is 
 found in the controversy over exorcism. 
 When the scribes who came down from 
 Jerusalem charged, "He hath Beelzebub 
 and by the prince of the devils casts he out 
 devils," he quickly reduced the accusation 
 to an absurdity: "How can Satan cast out 
 Satan? If he rise up against himself and 
 be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an 
 end." He goes further — ff If I by Beelze- 
 bub cast out devils, by whom do your chil- 
 dren cast them out? " 
 
 There was one occasion, however, when 
 Jesus himself seems to have been vanquished 
 by a swift rejoinder. When the Syro-Pheni- 
 cian woman came to him in behalf of her 
 daughter, in order to test her faith he said, — 
 
IRcpartce. 547 
 
 "Let the children first be filled, for it is not 
 meet to take the children's bread and to 
 cast it unto the clogs/' r Yvs, Lord,'' she 
 answered, "yet the dogs Tinder the table 
 
 eat of the children's crumbs." These words 
 came from a bright intellect as well as from 
 a trusting heart. Jesus appreciated the 
 keenness of the reply no less than the 
 confidence it expressed. " For this saying 
 go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy 
 daughter." "For once," says Macbeth, 
 "Jesus was refuted and that by his own 
 figure ; and he wished to be refuted." 
 
 How we enjoy such a dilemma as the one 
 in which he placed the chief priests and the 
 scribes and the elders ! They asked him, " By 
 what authority doest thou these things? 
 And who gave thee authority to do these 
 things?" "I will also ask of you one 
 question," says Jesus, " and answer me, and 
 I will tell you by what authority I do these 
 things — the baptism of John, was it from 
 heaven, or of men? answer me." "And 
 they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we 
 shall say from heaven, he will say, Why then 
 did ye not believe him? But if we shall say 
 
148 -rot and t>umot of tbe Bible. 
 
 of men, — they feared the people; for all 
 men counted John that he was a prophet, 
 indeed. And they answered and said unto 
 Jesus, We can not tell." ff And Jesus ans- 
 wered and said unto them, Neither tell I 
 you by what authority I do these things." 
 
 Another time '• came to Jesus Scribes and 
 Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, saying, 
 "Why do thy disciples transgress the tra- 
 dition of the Elders? for they wash not 
 their hands when they eat bread?" How 
 quick and effective the reply: ,f Why do 
 ye also transgress the commandment of God 
 by your tradition?" Nothing could be said 
 in response. The question was absolutely 
 closed. The disciples violate your tradition? 
 Very good; but what does your tradition 
 violate? Can we not see his opponents, 
 falling back beaten, knitting their brows, 
 taking counsel together, planning some 
 overwhelming defeat for this impudent 
 young heretic? "What Thersites said of 
 Ajax would well apply to them: f? He bites 
 his lips with a politic regard, as who should 
 say, There were wit in this head an' ' twould 
 out; and so there is, but it lies as coldly in 
 
"Repartee. 149 
 
 him as fire in a flint, which will not show 
 without knocking." 
 
 "When the woman poured the spikenard 
 on the head of Jesus, Judas, the virtuous 
 Judas, forsooth! made objection. "Why 
 was not this ointment sold for three hundred 
 pence and given to the poor?" Why not, 
 indeed, — for Judas is custodian of the poor 
 fund. " Judas," returns his Master, — and 
 there was pathos as well as rebuke in the 
 words, — "Judas, the poor ye have with you 
 always, and whenever ye will, ye may do 
 them good." This was the first time Judas 
 had ever manifested any solicitude for the 
 poor. "But me, ye have not always." 
 Judas was silenced; but he began to brood 
 revenge. Soon he stole out and went to the 
 chief priests. He had not secured the price 
 of the spikenard, but he would indemnify 
 himself by selling his Master ! 
 
 With what relish do we read the trench- 
 ant replies of Jesus to the Scribes and 
 Pharisees and Herodians who had leagued 
 to "entangle him in his talk." Easily as 
 Samson broke the green withes, did he 
 break the verbal fetters they forged. " In 
 
150 imiit ano Ibumoc of the Mbie. 
 
 the resurrection, they neither marry nor 
 are given in marriage!" "Render unto 
 Caesar the tilings that are Csesar's, and unto 
 God the things that are God's." What can 
 be more admirable viewed simply as repar- 
 tee, — as illustrations of the "dexterous leap 
 of thought by which the mind escapes from 
 a seemingly hopeless dilemma?" If one 
 were to read such fragments of Gospel his- 
 tory for the first time, without the idea that 
 he must attach a solemn and awful meaning 
 to every word, how would he delight in 
 these intellectual contests and hail the 
 genius of the victor ! 
 
 After the besiegers, in the preceding 
 incident, had exhausted their fruitless ingen- 
 uity, Jesus turns upon them with the ques- 
 tion, "What think ye of Christ? Whose 
 Son is he?" "The Son of David," they 
 feebly mutter. " How then doth David call 
 him Lord? If David call him Lord, how is 
 he his son?" That ended the controversy. 
 The combined forces of theology and poli- 
 tics retired in confusion, evidently looking, 
 as Dickens said of the portraits of the Ded- 
 lock family, " as if they did not know what 
 
IRepartce. 151 
 
 to make of it." They had lost the battle. 
 One can imagine the evangelist who after- 
 wards wrote the account, almost chuckling 
 with inward satisfaction, as he recalled the 
 scene and recorded the result: "And no 
 man was able to answer him a word, neither 
 durst any man from that day ask him any 
 more questions." 
 
VII. WIT AND LOGIC. 
 
 " AVho would say that truth ought to stand disarmed 
 against falsehood, or that the enemies of the faith shall 
 be at liberty to frighten the faithful with hard words or 
 jeer at them with lively sallies of wit, while the Christians 
 ought never to write except with a coldness of style 
 enough to set the reader asleep? " — Augustine. 
 
 (1SS) 
 
WIT AND LOGIC. 
 
 " I was not gone far before I heard the sound of trumpets 
 and alarms, which seemed to proclaim the march of an 
 Enemy ; and as I afterwards found was in reality what I 
 apprehended it. There appeared at a great distance a very 
 shining light, and in the midst of it a person of most beauti- 
 ful aspect; her name was Truth. On her right hand, there 
 marched a male deity, who bore several quivers on his 
 shoulders, and grasped several arrows in his hand. His name 
 was Wit." — Addison. 
 
 Ix her essay on Heine, George Eliot 
 writes: "Every one who has had the 
 opportunity of making the comparison, will 
 remember that the effect produced on him 
 by some witticisms is closely akin to the 
 effect produced on him by subtle reasoning 
 which lavs open a fallacy or absurdity; and 
 there are persons whose delight in such 
 reasoning always manifests itself in lauarh- 
 ter. This affinity of wit with ratiocination 
 is the more obvious in proportion as the 
 species of wit is higher and deals less with 
 words and with superficialities than with 
 
 (155) 
 
15G TOt an& Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 the essential qualities of things. Some of 
 Dr. Johnson's most admirable witticisms 
 consist in the suggestion of an analogy 
 which immediately exposes the absurdity of 
 an action or proposition; and it is only their 
 ingenuity, condensation and instantaneous- 
 ness which lift them from reasoning into 
 wit." The opinion of George Eliot has 
 been shared by others. Pitt declared that 
 w all wit is true reasoning," and Rogers says 
 that "wit is truth." A French writer has 
 observed that " reason needs to be armed 
 with the terrible epigram." And even 
 solemn John Milton writes of Plato's 
 dialogues, "There is scarce one of them, 
 especially wherein some notable sophister 
 lies sweating and turmoiling under the 
 inevitable and merciless dilemmas of Socra- 
 tes, but he that reads, were it Saturn him- 
 self, would be robbed of more than a smile/' 
 There are in literature abundant examples 
 of the condensed logic of wit, — the logic 
 that exposes a fallacy, answers an objection 
 and demolishes an argument, without resort- 
 ing to major and minor premise and formal 
 conclusion. One or two of these may pave 
 
lUit an* Xcfltc. 157 
 
 the way to the main purpose of this chapter. 
 " Where was your Protestant Church before 
 Luther?" asked a Catholic of Wilkes. 
 "Did you wash your face this morning?" 
 said Wilkes. "I did, sir." "Where was 
 your face before you washed it?" The 
 logic of wit as employed by Dr. Johnson, is 
 referred to by George Eliot. On one occa- 
 sion it was debated whether a clergyman 
 who had five years before been guilty of 
 some grave sin should be reinstated. John- 
 son inquired whether the man had re- 
 pented. It was admitted that he had. 
 w Then," said Johnson, " if he has repented, 
 is he not good enough to go to heaven?" 
 "Certainly." "Why, sir, then there is no 
 objection. A man who is good enough to 
 go to heaven is good enough to be a clergy- 
 man." Johnson denounced Lord Bolinof- 
 broke in the following immortal analogy: 
 "Sir, he was a scoundrel and a coward; a 
 scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss 
 against religion and morality, a coward 
 because he had not resolution enough to 
 fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a 
 beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger 
 after his death." 
 
158 xan an& Ibumor of tbe ffitble. 
 
 A certain clergyman who had been ad- 
 dieted to bawling and roaring* in the pulpit 
 said, ff I once thought it was the thunder 
 that killed, and know now that it is the 
 lightning that does the execution. I mean 
 to thunder less and lighten more." Sir 
 Thomas Overbury punctures certain pre- 
 tensions thus: "The man who has not 
 anything to boast of but his illustrious 
 ancestors, is like a potato — the only good 
 belonging to him is underground." Thomp- 
 son, of the Westminster Review, defended 
 the Radicals against the attacks of the 
 Whigs in this manner: " Noah was a Rad- 
 ical when, hearing the world was to be 
 drowned, he went about such a common- 
 sense proceeding as making for himself a 
 ship to swim in. An antediluvian Whig 
 would have laid together half-a-dozen 
 sticks for an ark and called it a * virtual 
 representation.' " 
 
 The principle that underlies these instan- 
 ces is obvious. The form may vary but in 
 every case there is an analogy that serves 
 all the purposes of formal logic, — w an an- 
 alogy which immediately exposes the absurd- 
 
XCUt an* Uoflic. 159 
 
 ity of an action or proposition." The 
 writers of the Bible understood and 
 
 employed the same principle. 
 
 I. 
 
 One of the best examples of its use is 
 found in Nathan's parable. He goes to 
 David and tells him: * There were two 
 men in our city; the one rich, the other 
 poor. The rich man had exceeding many 
 flocks and herds; but the poor man had 
 nothing save one little ewe lamb, which he 
 had brought and nourished up; audit grew 
 up together with him and with his children; 
 and it did eat of his own meat and drank of 
 his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was 
 unto him as a daughter. And there came 
 a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared 
 to take of his own flock and of his own 
 herd to dress it for the wayfaring man that 
 was come unto him; but took the poor 
 man's lamb and dressed it for the man that 
 was come unto him/' Such an action is 
 so atrocious that it kindles David's wrath. 
 He little suspects the purpose of the wily 
 prophet . "As the Lord liveth," he cries, rf the 
 
160 «coit ano fmmoc of tbe JBfble. 
 
 man that hath clone this thing shall surely die ! 
 And he shall restore the lamb four- fold he- 
 cause he did this thing, and because he had 
 no pity." Beware, David, beware! This 
 Nestor-prophet, this Nathan of the subtle 
 wit and keen-edged tongue hath digged a 
 pit for thee and thou hast fallen into it. 
 Swiftly the prophet smites the bewildered 
 king with the conclusion, w Thou art the 
 man!" Could a volume of reasoning have 
 so impressed David with the enormity of 
 his crime as this simple " analogy " of 
 Nathan? 
 
 A similar instance is found in the first 
 book of Kings. Ahab the king of Israel 
 had allowed the Syrian general, Ben-hadad, 
 to escape. One of the prophets, determined 
 to rebuke him, disguised himself and sat by 
 the wayside, waiting until the king should 
 pass by. " And as the king passed by, he 
 cried unto the king and said: Thy servant 
 went out into the midst of the battle, and 
 behold a man turned aside and brought a 
 man unto me and said, Keep this man; if 
 by any means he be missing, then shall thy 
 life be for his life or else thou shalt pay a 
 
 
TOt anfc Xoflfc. 161 
 
 talent of silver. And as thy servant was 
 busy here and there he was gone." Ahab 
 does not suspect the snare of the prophet. 
 What would my lord, the king, decide? 
 Shall thy servant pay the forfeit? " And 
 the king of Israel said unto him, So shall thy 
 judgment be ; thyself hath decided it." And 
 he made haste, removed his disguise, and 
 said to the king: "Thus saith the Lord: 
 Because thou hast let go out of thine hand a 
 man whom I had appointed to utter destruc- 
 tion, therefore thy life shall go for hislife, and 
 th // people for his people " Ahab has judged 
 himself. Xo wonder he was vexed. ff And 
 the king of Israel went to the house heavy 
 and displeased." Nothing so disconcerts 
 one as the recoil of his own logic. 
 
 Let ns place side by side with these illus- 
 trations one or two pieces of the same kind 
 of reasoning from Shakespeare. The Court 
 Fool endeavors to show Lear his own pitiful 
 lack of wisdom in giving away his kingdom 
 to his daughters: — 
 
 " Fool. — N uncle, give me an egg, and I'll give thee 
 two crowns. 
 
 " Lear. — What two crowns shall they he? 
 
162 Mit anfr Ibumor of tbe aSfble. 
 
 " Fool. — Why, after I have dove the egg V the mid- 
 dle and eat up the meat, the two crowns of the egg. 
 When thou clovest thy crown i' the middle and gavest 
 away both parts, thou borest thine ass on thy back o'er 
 the dirt ; thou hadst little wit in thy bald crown when 
 thou gavest thy golden one away." 
 
 Upon another occasion the following dia- 
 logue occurs : — 
 
 " Fool. — Canst thou tell how an oyster makes his 
 shell? 
 
 " Leak. — No. 
 
 "Fool. — Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail 
 has a house. 
 
 "Lear.— Why? 
 
 " Fool. — Why to put his head in ; not to give it away 
 to his daughters and leave his horns without a case." 
 
 Lear is so stung with the sense of his folly 
 by these w analogies " of his jester that he 
 exclaims in rage and bitterness, w I shall for- 
 get my nature ! " It is the argument of 
 Nathan, M Thou art the man." 
 
 Upon the same principle, but in a differ- 
 ent way, the Psalmist reasons with those 
 who w slay the widow and the stranger and 
 murder the fatherless," and who say, " The 
 Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of 
 Jacob regard it." Thus he argues: K Under- 
 
*GCUt ai^ Xogfc. 163 
 
 stand, ye brutish among the people; and ye 
 fools, when will ye be wise? He that plant- 
 ed the ear, shall he nothearf he thatformed 
 the eye, shall he not see/ " 
 
 Under this head must we also place the 
 judgment of Solomon, when the two women 
 came before him, each claiming the living 
 child. " Then said the king, The one saith, 
 This is my son that liveth and thy son is dead; 
 and the other saith, Nay ; but thy son is the 
 dead and mine is the living one. And the 
 king said, Bring me a sword. And they 
 brought a sword before the king. And the 
 king said, Divide the living child in two and 
 give half to one and half to the other. Then 
 spoke the woman wdiose the living child was 
 unto the king, for her heart yearned upon 
 her son, and she said, O my Lord, give her 
 the living child and in no Avise slay it. But 
 the other said, Let it be neither thine nor 
 mine, but divide it. Then the king answered 
 and said, C4ive her (the first) the living child, 
 and in no wise slay it; she is the mother 
 thereof." Solomon had to use a sharp argu- 
 ment, but he settled the controversy. 
 
164 -rot ano Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 II. 
 
 The ff suggestion of an analogy that im- 
 mediately exposes the absurdity of an action 
 or proposition," was the favorite method of 
 argument with Jesus. 
 
 He spun no metaphysical cobwebs, he 
 used no long chains of linked propositions; 
 it is no irreverence to say that his quick wit 
 was his main reliance. In a sentence or two, 
 with a simple, homely figure, he reduced to 
 an absurdity the conduct he censured and 
 the proposition he opposed. 
 
 On one occasion he was asked, r Is it law- 
 ful to heal on the Sabbath day?" fr What 
 man shall there be among you," he answered, 
 w that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into 
 a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold 
 onit and bring it out? How much more, then, 
 is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it 
 is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day." 
 
 At another time the same subject came 
 up. Because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath 
 day, the ruler of the synagogue was filled 
 with indignation and made a very grotesque 
 spectacle of himself. He stormed, scolded, 
 
1UM anfc Xoflfc. 165 
 
 and roared to the people, "There are 
 six days in which men ought to work; in 
 them therefore come and be healed, and not 
 on the Sabbath day." Jesus answered: 
 K Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you 
 on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from 
 the stall and lead him away to watering? 
 And ought not this woman, being a daugh- 
 ter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, 
 lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this 
 bond on the Sabbath day? " The indignant 
 ruler had to smother his wrath. "And when 
 he (Jesus) had said these things, all his ad- 
 versaries were ashamed." The people 
 enjoyed their confusion, and evidently 
 applauded the sharp-witted young prophet 
 who had silenced the fault-finding tongues 
 of the rulers. " All the people rejoiced for 
 the glorious things that were done by him!" 
 The Scribes and Pharisees were once 
 murmuring and complaining that he min- 
 gled with publicans and sinners, and even 
 condescended to eat with them. "And 
 Jesus answering said unto them, They 
 that are whole need not a physician, but 
 they that are sick. I came not to call the 
 righteous, but sinners to repentance!" 
 
160 xait ant) Ibumor of tbe JBfMe. 
 
 When the Pharisees and Saddncees desired 
 that he would show them a sign from heaven, 
 he answered and said unto them, K When it 
 is evening, ye say that it will be fair weather 
 for the sky is red. And in the morning, It 
 will be foul weather to-day; for the sky is 
 red and lowering. O, ye hypocrites, ye can 
 discern t lie face of the sky; hut can ye not 
 discern the signs of the times?" Pie uses 
 essentially the same argument for a similar 
 request: " When ye see a cloud rise out of 
 the West, straightway ye say, There cometh 
 a shower, and so it is. And when ye see 
 the South wind blow, ye say, There will be 
 heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, 
 ye can discern the face of the sky and of 
 the earth; hut how is it that ye do not dis- 
 cern this time?" Says Geike, "With biting 
 irony, he turned on them in a few brief, 
 incisive sentences. * * * An evil and 
 adulterous generation seeks after a sign of 
 the approach of the Kingdom of God, while 
 it is blind to the signs around that the Mes- 
 siah must come, if the nation is not to 
 perish." 
 
 In a similar manner he shows how ridicu- 
 
•Cdit anfc Xoafc. 167 
 
 lous are the doubts of those who fear that 
 God will not answer prayer. "If a sou ask 
 bread of any of you that is a father, will ye 
 give 1 1 i 111 a stone?" How this must have 
 arrested the attention of his auditors; how 
 they began to listen, curious to know what 
 was coming next. "Or if he ask a fish, 
 will he for a fish give him a serpent?" 
 Now they exchange glances as much as to 
 say, "Xo, no; surely we would not do that!" 
 But only for a moment. The expectant 
 laces are again turned upon the Great 
 Teacher. " Or if he shall ask an Qgg, will 
 he offer him a scorpion?" " Xo, no!" and 
 now they are eager for the conclusion: 
 "If ye then being evil, know how to <jir<- 
 good gift* mi to your children, how much 
 more shall your Heavenly Father give the 
 Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" It is 
 the climax of absurdity for you to think that 
 you are better than God, and will do more 
 lor your children than the Great Father will 
 do for his children! 
 
 The disciples of Jesus came to tell him 
 that the Pharisees are offended at some of 
 his sayings. His only reply is, ''Let them 
 
168 -rot ano Ibumor of tbe JBfble. 
 
 alone; they be blind leaders of the blind. 
 And if the blind lead the blind, both shall 
 fall into the ditch." 
 
 When he charges the Pharisees with 
 tithing mint, anise, and cummin, while 
 neglecting judgment, mercy and faith, he 
 stamps their conduct with an ff analogy " 
 that makes them ludicrous forever, "Ye 
 blind guides ivhich strain out a gnat and 
 sivallow a, camel." 
 
 At dinner, he was rebuked by his host 
 for permitting a penitent woman to wash 
 his feet with her tears and wipe them with 
 the hairs of her head. " Simon,'' calmly 
 returned the guest, "I have somewhat to 
 say to thee." w Master, Say on." Jesus 
 then proceeds to impale him upon the fol- 
 lowing question : ' f There was a certain 
 creditor which had two debtors; the one 
 owed him five hundred pence, the other 
 fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, 
 he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, 
 therefore, which of them will love him 
 most?" Simon understands whither the 
 question tends, and slowly and reluctantly 
 comes his answer : "I — suppose — that — 
 
•Qdit and logic. 169 
 
 he — to — whom — he — forgave most." 
 "Thou hast lightly judged." Yes, Simon, 
 but thou hast condemned thyself and justified 
 the woman. 
 
 The story of the vineyard and its ap- 
 plieation are similar to Nathan's parable. 
 K There was a certain householder which 
 planted a vineyard, and hedged it round 
 about and digged a wine-press in it, and 
 built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, 
 and went into a far country. And when 
 the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his 
 servants to the husbandmen, that they 
 might receive the fruits of it. And the 
 husbandmen took his servants, and beat 
 one, and killed another, and stoned another. 
 Again he sent other servants, more than the 
 first; and they^ did unto them likewise. But 
 last of all, he sent unto them his Son; say- 
 ing, They will reverence my Son. But when 
 the husbandmen saw the Son, they said 
 among themselves, This is the heir; come, 
 let us kill him, and let us seize on the inher- 
 itance. And they caught him and cast him 
 out of the vineyard, and slew him." 
 
 This is the story. Jesus turns to the 
 
170 -emit anfr Ibumor of tbe .Bible. 
 
 Pharisees: :c When the Lord, therefore, 
 of the vineyard cometh, what will he do 
 unto these husbandmen?" Priests and 
 Pharisees are moved with indignation. This 
 is horrible; it almost exceeds belief. Those 
 husbandmen were monsters of ingratitude 
 and wickedness! The Pharisees answer: 
 "lie will miserably destroy those wicked 
 men, and will let out his vineyard unto other 
 husbandmen, which shall render him the 
 fruits in their seasons." 
 
 Fatal answer for you, O Scribes and Phar- 
 isees ! ? Therefore I say unto you, the King- 
 dom of God slxill he taken from you, and 
 given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
 thereof." There is a touch of humor in 
 Matthew's description of the manner in 
 which the real object of this story dawned 
 upon the minds of the hearers. " And when 
 the Pharisees had heard his parable, they 
 perceived that he spake of them? Are we 
 not irresistibly reminded of Falstaff, when 
 the fairies in the forest turned out to be flesh 
 and blood, "I do begin to perceive that I 
 am made an ass?" Do we not feel about 
 many of these condensed arguments of Jesus, 
 
tern and xcgIc. 171 
 
 as Milton did about the "sophisl sweating 
 and turmoiling under the inevitable and mer- 
 ciless dilemmas of Socrates," that "he who 
 reads, were it Saturn himself, would be 
 robbed of more than a smile?" 
 
 Let us add by way of comparison, a pas- 
 sage from the Athenian Master. Here is a 
 fragment of dialogue upon the enslaving 
 power of money. 
 
 " Come, now, and let us reason with the 
 unjust who is not intentionally in error. 
 * Sweet sir,' we will say to him, ? what think 
 you of things esteemed noble and ignoble? 
 Is not the noble that which subjects the 
 beast to the man, or rather to the god in 
 man? and the ignoble that which subjects 
 the man to the beast?' He can hardly avoid 
 saying Yes, — can he now? " 
 
 w Xot if he has any regard for my opinion." 
 
 " But if he admit this, we may ask him 
 another question, — How would a man profit 
 if he received gold and silver on condition 
 that he was to enslave the noblest part of 
 him to the worst? AVho can imagine that a 
 man who sold his son or daughter into slav- 
 ery for money, especially if he sold them into 
 
172 TOt anfc Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 the hands of fierce and evil men, would be 
 the gainer, however large might be the sum 
 which he received? And will any one say 
 that he is not a miserable caitiff who sells his 
 own divine being to that which is most athe- 
 istical and detestable, and has no pity? " 
 
 This selection will enable ns to see that 
 the method commonly used by Socrates was 
 essentially the method that Jesus so fre- 
 quently employed. 
 
 III. 
 
 When Ave pass on to other portions of the 
 Xew Testament, we find examples of the 
 same kind of reasoning in James and Paul. 
 
 Most admirably does James show the futil- 
 ity of faith without works. " What shall it 
 profit, my brethren, though a man say he 
 hath faith and hath not works? Can faith 
 save him? If a brother and sister be naked 
 and destitute of daily food, and one of you 
 say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye 
 warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give 
 them not those things which are needful to 
 the body, what doth it profit? Even so faith, 
 if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." 
 
TKiUt an*3 OLoaic. 173 
 
 The class of people referred to by James 
 are aptly described by Fielding in the 
 character of Peter Pounce. "Sir," said 
 Adams, " my definition of charity is a gen- 
 erous disposition to relieve the distressed." 
 "There is something* in that definition," 
 answered Peter, "which I like well enough; 
 it is, as } T ou say, a disposition to do it, 
 and does not so much consist in the act 
 as in the disposition to do it. But, alas! 
 Mr. Adams, who are meant by the distressed? 
 Belieye me, the distresses of mankind are 
 mostly imaginary, and it would be rather 
 folly than goodness to relieve them." w Sure, 
 sir," replied Adams, "hunger and thirst, 
 cold and nakedness, and other distresses 
 which attend the poor, can never be said to 
 be imaginary evils." "How can any man 
 complain of hunger," said Peter, " in a coun- 
 try where such excellent salads are to be 
 gathered in almost every field? or of thirst, 
 where every river and stream produce such 
 delicious potations? And as for cold and 
 nakedness, they are evils introduced by lux- 
 ury and custom. A man naturally wants 
 clothes no more than a horse or any other 
 
17 * XQit anfc Ibumor of tbe JBtble. 
 
 animal; and there are whole nations who go 
 without them." Peter Pounce would have 
 said to the "brother or sister naked and des- 
 titute of daily food," * Depart in peace; be 
 ye warmed and filled" 
 
 The declaration of James that "faith 
 without works is dead," is illustrated in the 
 sayings of others also: 
 
 " Sweet words, empty hands." — Telugu. 
 
 44 Kindness, but no milk." — Urdu. 
 
 "Though they are brothers, their pockets are not 
 sisters." — Turk. 
 
 " It is not by saying Honey, Honey, that sweetness 
 comes into the mouth." — lb. 
 
 "His words leap over forts, his feet do not cross the 
 threshold." — Telugu. 
 
 44 If you do not ask me for food and raiment, I will 
 care for you as my own child." — lb. 
 
 Equally admirable is that comparison of 
 Paul in which he likens the Church to the 
 human body and shows the folly of jealousy 
 and schism: "If the foot shall say, Because 
 I am not the hand, I am not of the body; 
 is it therefore not of the body? If the whole 
 body were an eye, where were the hearing? 
 If the whole were hearing, where were the 
 smelling?" 
 
TIClit anD Xoflic. 175 
 
 Very pleasantly, but very effectually, 
 does he remind those who professed to 
 "speak with tongues" a sort of supernatu- 
 ral language, in the early Christian assem- 
 blies, that it was "better to speak five 
 words with the understanding than ten 
 thousand words in an unknown tongue." 
 An illustration serves his purpose. "Even 
 things without life, giving sound, whether 
 pipe or harp, except they give a distinction 
 in sound, how shall it be known what is 
 piped or harped? For if the trumpet give 
 an uncertain sound, who shall prepare him- 
 self for battle? So likewise ye, except ye 
 utter by the tongue words easy to be un- 
 derstood, how shall it be known what is 
 spoken? for ye shall speak into the air." 
 
 Paul maintains the right of those who 
 establish and teach churches, to be sup- 
 ported by those churches. It was a right 
 upon which he did not always insist in his 
 own case; but he fought for it as a great 
 principle. K Mine answer to them that do 
 examine me is this: Have we not the 
 power (the right) to eat and drink?" The 
 objector would admit this. Very well! 
 
176 *oait ano Ibumor of tbe JBtble. 
 
 "Who goeth a warfare any time at his own 
 charges? Who planteth a vineyard and 
 eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who 
 feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk 
 of the flock? * * * If we have sown 
 unto you in spiritual things, is it a great 
 thing if we shall reap of your carnal things? 
 * * * Do ye not know that they which 
 minister about holy things live of the things 
 of the temple? They which wait at the 
 altar are partakers with the altar? Even 
 so hath the Lord ordained that they which 
 preach the gospel should live of the gospel." 
 There is no gainsaying this argument. 
 The K analogy " is unanswerable. 
 
 Already once or twice in this chapter, 
 reference has been made to Socrates and 
 his method. Much of the following passage 
 would apply equally well to Jesus or James 
 or Paul : K He generally begins with some 
 question, apparently so simple, so stupidly 
 simple, and at such a distance from the field 
 of discussion, that his opponent often hesi- 
 tates whether most to admire the docility or 
 wonder at the stupidity of the querist, and 
 with a complacent smile, half of pity, half 
 
TMM anfc ILoflfc. 177 
 
 of contempt, promptly replies. Other ques- 
 tions succeed faster and faster, more and 
 more difficult, and gradually approaching, 
 in one long spiral of interrogations, the 
 central position in which the unhappy 
 sophist's argument stands. He now finds 
 it impossible to escape, and confounded, 
 perplexed and irritated, discovers that he is 
 compelled to admit some palpable contra- 
 diction to his original assertions, and this 
 too by means of those simple and innocent 
 premises which he had so unsuspectingly 
 granted. He feels himself within the coils 
 of a great logical boa-constrictor who binds 
 his folds together tighter and tighter till 
 the poor sophist is absolutely strangled." 
 
VIII. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD 
 TESTAMENT. 
 
 " Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in 
 the streets ; she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in 
 the openings of the gates ; in the city she uttereth her 
 words, saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love 
 simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, 
 and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof! " — 
 Solomon. 
 
 (179) 
 
THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE OLD 
 TESTAMENT. 
 
 " The oldest jibe In literature is the ridicule of false 
 religion . " — Emerson. 
 
 "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord 
 shall hold them in derision." — Psalms. 
 
 Ix the Bible, the elements of wit and 
 humor are effectively employed in dealing 
 with the sins of men. Evil doing, in its 
 various motives and manifestations, is de- 
 nounced, rendered repulsive, made ghastly 
 and terrible, and when everything else has 
 been done, it is exhibited as grotesque and 
 ludicrous. Sin is the great absurdity of the 
 universe. Were it not so tragic, it would 
 shake the very heavens with laughter. 
 
 One of the old English poets has these 
 lines: — 
 
 " He who does not tremble at the sword, 
 Who quails not with his head upon the block, 
 Turn but a jest against him, loses heart ; 
 The shafts of wit slip thro' the stoutest mail. 
 There is no man alive that can live down 
 The inextinguishable laughter of mankind. " 
 
 With this fact the writers of the Bible were 
 
 (181) 
 
182 xuit an& Dumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 quite as well acquainted as are the writers 
 of modern times. They took advantage of 
 it for the same purpose. 
 
 " Of this we may be sure," says Hazlitt, 
 ff that ridicule fastens on the vulnerable points 
 of a cause, and finds out the weak sides of 
 an argument; if those who resort to it some- 
 times rely too much on its success, those 
 who are chiefly annoyed by it almost always 
 are so with reason, and can not be too much 
 upon their guard against deserving it." 
 
 Into hearts impervious to all else, the 
 writers of the Bible drove the javelins of 
 ridicule. 
 
 The Sluggard. 
 
 If anything could make a lazy man feel 
 uncomfortable, it would be such thorns as 
 those Solomon has planted in his pillow: — 
 
 " I went by the field of the slothful, 
 And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding ; 
 And lo ! it was all grown over with thorns, 
 The face thereof was covered with nettles, 
 And the stone wall thereof was broken down. 
 Then I beheld and considered well, 
 I saw and received instruction : 
 4 A little sleep, a little slumber, 
 
£bc Use of TRiotculc in tbe Old {Testament. 183 
 
 A little folding of the hands to sloop.' 
 So shall thy poverty come as a robber, 
 And thy want as an armed man. 
 
 * * * * '* 
 
 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard, 
 When wilt thou rouse thee out of thy sleep? " 
 
 The Unfaithful Friend. 
 
 If anything could make an unfaithful and 
 deceitful friend, one who professes much in 
 times of prosperity and performs nothing in 
 times of need, ashamed of himself, it would 
 be such a comparison as we find in the book 
 of Job: — 
 
 v * My brethren are deceitful, like the brook 
 As the channel of brooks that pass away, 
 They become turbid from ice, 
 The snow hides itself in them. 
 At the time they are poured off, they fail ; 
 When it is hot they are consumed from their place. 
 The caravans along their way turn aside ; 
 They go up into the wastes and perish. 
 The caravans of Tema looked, 
 The companies of Sheba hoped for them ; 
 They were ashamed that they had trusted, 
 They came thither and were confounded." 
 
 The friends of Job were like streams in the 
 early spring, when melting ice and snow 
 
184 -mat anD "Ibumor of tbe ffitble. 
 
 filled their channels, and the waters were 
 not needed; but in the heat of summer, 
 when fainting caravans looked for refresh- 
 ment, dry and dusty. 
 
 The Drunkard. 
 
 If anything could move a drunkard to for- 
 swear his cups and lead a sober life, it would 
 be such a sarcastic description of him as 
 that which follows : — 
 
 " Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath con- 
 tention? 
 
 Who hath complaining? Who hath wounds without 
 cause ? 
 
 Who hath redness of eyes ? 
 
 They that tarry long at the wine, 
 
 They that go to try mixed wine. 
 
 Thine eyes shall behold strange things, 
 
 And thy heart shall utter fro ward things, 
 
 Yea thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of 
 
 the sea, 
 Or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast." 
 
 The poem closes with a terrible thrust. After 
 the folly of the drunkard has been described, 
 his physical and mental condition pointed out 
 — the red eyes, the strange things seen in de- 
 
Cbc XXsc ot Ridicule in tbc ©ID Testament. 185 
 
 lirium, the incoherent babbling, the unsteady 
 unit, the surrounding perils, — the devotee 
 of strong drink is made to exclaim, " When 
 shall I awake? I will seek it yet again!" 
 Knowing its effects, suffering in mind and 
 body from his potations, such is the incorri- 
 gible stupidity of the wine-bibber that he 
 no sooner wakens from his drunken slumber 
 than he goes forth to seek again the source 
 of his wretchedness ! 
 
 The Idolater. 
 
 Nowhere is the use of ridicule by the 
 writers of the Old Testament displayed to 
 better advantage than in their treatment of 
 idolatry. Against this sin they brought 
 to bear the most potent weapons of their 
 wit. Xone of the resources of expression 
 were left untried. Witness the withering 
 irony with which Elijah mocked the frantic 
 priests of Baal: "And it came to pass that 
 at noon Elijah mocked them and said, Cry 
 aloud, for he is a god; either he is talking, 
 or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or 
 peradventure he sleepeth and must be 
 awaked.'' Xo finer bit of irony can be 
 
186 TOt anfc Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 found in any literature. Indeed, we may 
 regard it as the most perfect specimen ex- 
 tant of this scries of wit. 
 
 Jeremiah exclaim-. "As the thief is 
 ashamed when he is found, so is the house 
 of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their 
 princes and their priests, and their prophets, 
 saying to a stock, Thou art my father, and 
 to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth" 
 
 The Psalmist thus speaks of the gods of 
 the heathen: 
 
 44 They have mouths, but they speak not ; 
 Eyes have they, but they see not ; 
 Noses have they, but they smell not ; 
 They have hands, but they handle not ; 
 Feet have they, but they walk not ; 
 Neither speak they thro' their throat." 
 
 Having thus described the senselessness 
 and impotence of the gods of the heathen, 
 he adds: 
 
 "They that make them are like unto them, 
 So is everyone that trusteth in them." 
 
 In a similar vein Jeremiah ridicules the 
 idols : w For the customs of the people are 
 vain; for one cutteth a tree out of the 
 forest, the work of the hands of the work^ 
 
XTbc Use of IRiMculc (n tbe Olfr Ccatamcnt. 187 
 
 man, with the axe. They deck it with silver 
 and with gold; they fasten it with nails and 
 with hammers that it move not. They are 
 upright as the palm tree, but speak not; 
 they must needs be borne, because they 
 can not go. Be not afraid of them; for 
 they can not do evil, neither also is it in 
 them to do good. * * * The stock is a 
 doctrine of vanities." 
 
 Isaiah satirizes the idolaters in this 
 fashion: "They shall be turned back, they 
 shall be greatly ashamed that trust in 
 graven images, they that say to the molten 
 images, Ye are our gods. Hear ye deaf, 
 and look ye blind that ye may see. "Who 
 is blind but my servant? or deaf as my 
 messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he 
 that is perfect (in his own estimation), and 
 blind as is the Lord's servant? Seeing 
 many things, but thou observest not; open- 
 ing the ears, but he heareth not. * * * 
 Who among you will give ear to this and 
 hearken and hear for time to come?" 
 
 Ezekiel declares that, on account of their 
 idolatries, the people have become as worth- 
 less as a withered vine. Nothing useful 
 
188 TOt anO Dumor of tbe JBtble. 
 
 can be made out of it. It is only fit for 
 the fire. "What is the vine tree more than 
 any tree, or than a branch which is among 
 the trees of the forest? Shall wood be 
 taken thereof to do any work? or a\ ill men 
 take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? 
 Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel; the 
 fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the 
 midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any 
 work? Behold, when it was whole, it was 
 meet for no work; how much less shall it be 
 meet yet for any work, when the fire hath 
 devoured it, and it is burned? Therefore, 
 thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree 
 among the trees of the forest, which I have 
 given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem." 
 
 There is an elaborate piece of sarcasm in 
 the forty-fourth chapter of Isaiah: "He 
 heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cy- 
 press and the oak which he strengtheneth for 
 himself among the trees of the forest; he 
 planteth an ash and the rain doth nourish it. 
 Then shall it be for a man to burn; for he 
 will take thereof and warm himself; yea, he 
 kindleth it and baketh bread." The tree 
 
Ubc X\ec of IRtNculc in tbc CIS (Testament 189 
 
 which this idolater takes lias grown up as 
 any other tree, and after it is cut down, it is 
 devoted to the same ordinary uses. Yet 
 out of that very tree, "he niaketh a god and 
 worshippeth it; he maketh a graven image, 
 and falleth down thereto." 
 
 The prophet repeats and amplifies, r? He 
 burnetii part thereof in the tire; with part 
 thereof he eateth flesh, he roasteth roast and 
 is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself and 
 saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire; 
 and the residue thereof he maketh a god, 
 even his graven image; he falleth down 
 unto it and worshipeth it, and prayeth 
 unto it and saith, Deliver me, for thou art 
 my God." 
 
 Then he concludes: w And none consid- 
 ereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge 
 nor understanding to say , I have burnedpart 
 of it in the fire; yea, also I hare baked 
 bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted 
 flesh and ecden it; and shall I make the res- 
 idue thereof an abomination? Shall I fall 
 down to the stock of a tree?" The idolater 
 does not see, does not "consider" what an 
 ahject simpleton he is to make a god out of 
 
190 Ulit anfc Dumot of tbe .IGiblc. 
 
 the same material with which he bakes bread 
 and roasts meat. It is as if the prophet 
 should say, "What sort of a god is that, O 
 Israel, with which you do your broiling and 
 baking?" 
 
 Robert South comments on this passage : 
 ? With one part he furnishes his chimney, 
 with the other his chapel. A strange thing 
 that the fire must consume this part and burn 
 incense to that! As if there were more 
 divinity in one end of the stick than in the 
 other; or as if it could be painted and graven 
 omnipotent, or the nails and hammer could 
 give it an apotheosis." 
 
 The fatalistic excuse which the people 
 make for their idolatries and other sins, is 
 thus disposed of by Jeremiah : " Behold ye 
 trust in lying words that can not profit. Will 
 ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and 
 swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, 
 and walk after other gods whom ye know 
 not; and come and stand before me in this 
 house which is called by my name, and say, 
 We are delivered to do all these abomina- 
 tions? Is this house which is called by my 
 name become a den of robbers in your eyes?" 
 
Zbc XXvc of iRiMculc (n tbc oic> Ceetament, L91 
 
 lu fuQi S of Z/li 8, 
 
 Isaiah charges the rulers of the people 
 with forsaking the word of the Lord, and 
 substituting for his truth false maxims and 
 Iniquitous precepts. They refuse to obey 
 the divine commands, and lead their subjects 
 also into rebellion. They have adopted other 
 rules of life than those delivered by the 
 prophets of Jehovah, — other national policy 
 than that promulgated from above. In their 
 overweening pride and self-confidence, they 
 look with disdain upon the requirements of 
 God. Isaiah represents them as saying, 
 K We have made a covenant with death, and 
 with hell are ^ve at agreement ; when the over- 
 flowing scourge shall pass through, it shall 
 not come nnto ns; for we have made lies 
 our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid 
 ourselves." But the prophet warns them 
 that their fancied security shall be broken 
 up. K Judgment also will I lay to the line 
 and righteousness to the plummet; and the 
 hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, 
 and the waters shall overflow the hiding- 
 place. And your covenant with death shall 
 
192 TOt anfc Ibumor of the JBtble. 
 
 be disannnled, and your agreement with 
 hell shall not stand. When the overflowing 
 scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be 
 trodden down by it." He pauses a moment, 
 after this strain of invective, and then sar- 
 castically describes the insufficiency of their 
 refuges by another figure, ludicrous enough, 
 that of a man trying to stretch himself upon 
 too short a bed, and to cover himself with 
 too narrow a blanket. "For the bed is 
 shorter than that a man can stretch himself 
 on it ; and the covering narrower than that 
 he can wrap himself in it." 
 
 False Projrfiets. 
 
 Ezekiel tells us that the word of the Lord 
 came to him, saying, Pf Son of Man, prophesy 
 against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, 
 and say unto them that prophesy out of their 
 own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord. 
 Thus saith the Lord God: Woe unto the 
 foolish prophets that follow their own spirit 
 and have seen nothing. O Israel, thy 
 prophets are like the foxes in the desert. 
 * * * They have seen vanity and lying 
 
Gbc tH0e of TRiOtcuic in tbe oio Ccatamcnt. 193 
 
 divination, saying, The Lord saith; and the 
 Lord hath not sent them." These prophets 
 were endeavoring to soothe the people, to 
 cover up their sins, to dissipate their fears 
 of retribution. 'They have seduced my 
 people, saying, peace, when there is no 
 peace." Then Ezekiel describes their work. 
 They are like foolish masons who build a 
 wall with mortar that will not hold the 
 stones together, — "untempered mortar!" 
 Can such work last? Can such a structure 
 stand? w Say unto them which daub it with 
 untempered mortar that it shall fall. There 
 shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O 
 great hail-stones, shall fall; and a stormy 
 wind shall rend it. Lo! when the Avail is 
 fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where 
 is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed 
 it?" Did ye not boast of your mortar? 
 Did ye not promise the people that it would 
 hold? Alas for you, O prophets! Alas 
 for your work! r? The wall is no more, 
 neither they that daubed it; to wit, the 
 prophets of Israel which prophesy concern- 
 ing Jerusalem, and which see visions of 
 peace for her, and there is no peace, saith 
 the Lord." 
 
194 xait ano Ibumor of tbe JSible. 
 
 Mosl contemptuously docs Isaiah speak 
 of the false prophets: "The Lord will cut 
 off from Israel, head and tail, branch and 
 root, in one day. The ancient and honor- 
 able, he is the head; and the prophet that 
 teacheth lies, he is the tailP 
 
 The King of Assyria. 
 
 Isaiah ridicules the high and mighty pre- 
 tensions of the King of Assyria. That 
 monarch boasts of his achievements. He 
 takes the credit of all to himself. He wears 
 the glory alone. ?r By the strength of my 
 own hand, I have done it, and by my wisdom; 
 for I am prudent; and I have removed the 
 bounds of the people, and have robbed their 
 treasures, and I have put down the inhabi- 
 tants like a valiant man." Falstaff could not 
 proclaim his own prowess, in more bombastic 
 style. " I am a rogue, if I were not at half- 
 sword with a dozen of them two hours to- 
 gether. I have 'scaped by miracle : I am 
 eight times thrust through the doublet; four 
 through the hose; my buckler cut through 
 and through; my sword hacked like a hand- 
 
Gbc Tflee of Kfttcule in tbe oic> (Testament. 195 
 
 saw. I never dealt better since I was a 
 man/" Now let the Assyrian resume his 
 parable: " And my hand hath found as a 
 nest the riches of the people; and as one 
 gathereth eggs that are left, have I 
 gathered all the earth: and there was none 
 that moved the wing, or opened the month, 
 or peeped." Falstaffwill match him again: 
 
 * There is not a dangerous action can peep 
 out his head, but I am thrust upon it. AYell, 
 I can not last for ever; but it was always 
 yet the trick of our English nation, if they 
 have a good thing, to make it too common. 
 
 * * * I would to God my name were 
 not so terrible to the enemy as it is!" 
 
 The prophet, after allowing the Assyrian 
 to sound his brazen trumpet, turns upon 
 him, and sarcastically reminds him that he 
 is simply a tool, a rod, a staff, in the hands 
 of the Lord, and that he has of himself 
 accomplished nothing: " Shall the art- 
 boast itself against him that heweth there- 
 with? or shall the saw magnify itself 
 against him that shaJceth it? as if the rod 
 should shake itself against them that lift it 
 up, or as if the staff should lift itself up as 
 if it were no wood ! " 
 
196 XUit and Ibumor of the JBible. 
 
 The King of Babylon. 
 
 One of the most powerful passages of 
 invective in any literature is that in which 
 Isaiah pictures the fall of the King of 
 Babylon. 
 
 He begins — "How hath the oppressor 
 ceased!" Then he sets forth the joy of the 
 earth itself over the discomfiture of him 
 who " smote the people in wrath with a 
 continual stroke." All creation is glad. 
 " The whole earth is at rest and is quiet ; 
 they break forth into singing. Yea, the 
 fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of 
 Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, 
 no feller is come up against us." This is 
 the state of things on earth. 
 
 There is commotion in the lower world, 
 there is mockery of the humiliated monarch 
 as he descends among the shades. "Hell 
 from beneath is moved for thee to meet 
 thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead 
 for thee, even all the chief ones of the 
 earth ; it hath raised up from their thrones 
 all the kings of the nations/' 
 
Zbc 'Use of IRtctculc ill the Olo (Testament. 1:, ~ 
 
 The shadowy, ghostly company gather 
 about the fallen potentate and taunt him: 
 K Art thou also become weak as we? Art 
 
 thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is 
 brought down to the grave, and the noise 
 of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, 
 
 and the worms cover thee. How art thou 
 fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the 
 morning:! how art thou cut down to the 
 ground which did weaken the nations! 
 F<»r thou hast said in thine heart, I will 
 ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne 
 above the stars of God: I will be like the 
 Most High! Yet thou shalt be brought 
 down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They 
 that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee 
 and consider thee, saying, Is this the man 
 that made the earth to tremble, that did 
 shake kingdoms, that made the world as a 
 wilderness, and destroyed the cities 
 thereof?" 
 
 Then the prophet concludes: "All the 
 kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in 
 glory, every one in his own house. But 
 thou art cast out of thy grave like an 
 abominable branch, and as the raiment of 
 
198 xUit ano Ibumcr of tbe MMc. 
 
 those that arc slain, thrust through with a 
 sword, that go down to the si ones of the 
 pit, as a carcass trodden under feet!" 
 
 It is truthfully remarked that rf keen 
 thrusts and tingling* ironies will rouse the 
 slumbering, startle the stolid, shame the 
 profligate, and set the thoughtless to think- 
 ing. While it is true that ridicule is not the 
 test of truth, it is equally certain that it is 
 only by ridicule that many dull-witted and 
 sin-steeped persons can be made to see and 
 feel the truth. It would be well for man- 
 kind in general, if all could be made to feel 
 that wickedness is as contemptible as it is 
 hateful. There is a stupidity in sin, a thick, 
 rhinoceros skin of insensibility, which only 
 the feather-winged arrows of wit can pierce. 
 Iniquity has a pachydermatous hide, and can 
 feel only when coals of fiery ridicule are laid 
 upon its back, and blown by the breath of 
 laughter," 
 
IX. THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE NEW 
 TESTAMENT. 
 
 " If our Savior himself never laughed, it is difficult 
 to believe that the bystanders did not laugh, or at least 
 smile, when he tore the mask from the hypocritical 
 pharisees who laid heavy burdens on men's shoulders 
 which they themselves would not move with their fingers, 
 and devoured widows' houses, even while for a pretence 
 they made long prayers." — Matthews. 
 
 (199) 
 
THE USE OF RIDICULE IN THE 
 NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 "Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the 
 faith."— Pan?. 
 
 The writers of the Old Testament who 
 used the glittering lances of wit against the 
 foes of truth and righteousness, had worthy 
 successors in evangelists and apostles, and 
 in Jesus himself. These men were indig- 
 nant at hypocrisy and wrong-doing; they 
 looked with scorn upon the swelling preten- 
 sions of the religious leaders; they expostu- 
 lated with affectionate earnestness and 
 severity with their own brethren who 
 suffered themselves to be led astray. In- 
 dignation is not necessarily wrong or un- 
 christian. The faculty of indignation is an 
 essential part of human nature, and when 
 aroused against evil its operations are benefi- 
 cent. It in no wise diminishes the reverence 
 we feel for Jesus, that he made a scourge 
 of cords and lashed the traders and money- 
 changers from the temple! 
 
 (201) 
 
202 xuit an& Ibumor of tbe JBible. 
 
 Ruskin says, "There is no black horse in 
 the chariot of the soul. One of the driver's 
 
 worst faults is starving his horses; another 
 is not breaking them early enough ; but they 
 are all good. Take, for example, one 
 usually thought of as wholly evil — that of 
 anger, leading to vengeance. I believe it to 
 be quite one of the crowning wickednesses 
 of this age, that we have starved and chilled 
 our faculty of indignation, and neither desire 
 nor dare to punish crimes justly." 
 
 This faculty of righteous wrath when it 
 takes shape in irony, ridicule, sarcasm, in- 
 vective, is the mightiest foe of vanity, 
 hypocrisy, pretension, corruption, and vice. 
 By its sword do they perish. The teachers 
 and writers of New Testament times, 
 did not disdain to use in their work every 
 instrument of power known to the human 
 mind. From their own stand-point, at least, 
 they had many false notions and customs to 
 combat; they had the ignorant, prejudiced, 
 officious and fault-finding to deal with; they 
 were harrassed by narrow and persistent 
 opponents; they had to do battle at every 
 step. They might have exclaimed with a 
 
XTbc Xlsc of TRtMculc in tbc IRcw Ccstamcnt. &08 
 
 modern writer, " Lei us be thankful thai \\< i 
 have in wit a power before which the pride 
 of wealth, and the insolence of office are 
 abased; which can transfix bigotrj and 
 tyranny with arrows of lightning; which 
 can strike its object over thousands of miles 
 of space, across thousands of years of lime; 
 and which through its sway over an univer- 
 sal weakness of man, is an everlasting' instru- 
 ment to make the bad tremble and the foolish 
 
 wince." 
 
 The Choice of the Jews. 
 
 There is an excellent piece of quiet sar- 
 casm in John's account of the trial of Jesus. 
 He first gives us Pilate's conclusion in these 
 words: "And when he had said this, he 
 went out again unto the Jews and saith: I. 
 find no fault in him at all; but ye have a 
 custom that T release unto you one at the 
 passover; will ye therefore that I release 
 unto you the king of the Jews?" Pilate is 
 willing; he pronounces Jesus innocent; but 
 tin- crowd clamor and refuse. "Then cried 
 they all again, saying, Not this man, but 
 
204 •QDlit ano Ibumor of tbc JBiblc. 
 
 Barabbas." John closes the account with 
 an inoffensive looking sentence, but one so 
 full of bitter satire, that we can not help 
 thinking of the time when he wished to call 
 down fire from heaven. Jesus is an innocent 
 man — so pronounced by the governor — but 
 the Jews cry out for his blood. They want 
 Barabbas released. And who is Barabbas? 
 Who is this popular idol? "Who is the man 
 that the people prefer to Jesus the upright 
 and spotless? With a rapier-like thrust, 
 John pierces the heart of that iniquitous 
 choice, w Now Barabbas teas a robber." It 
 is a stroke worthy the " Son of thunder." 
 
 The Weakness of Pilate. 
 
 But think not, O Pilate, that thou shalt 
 escape. The same hand that cast the first 
 javelin, will also send one to pierce thy 
 heart. In the next chapter, John tells us 
 how, up to a certain point, Pilate sought to 
 release Jesus. He was convinced of his 
 innocence, and did not wish him put to 
 death. But there is a weak spot in Pilate's 
 nature, and John points it out with infallible 
 
Ubc X\ec of Ridicule in tbc Hew Ceatament. 205 
 
 precision. Pilate is no1 the man to stand 
 for the right at personal sacrifice. When 
 his own interests are at stake, lie will per- 
 mit injustice and cruel wrong to others. 
 Why does he deliver Jesus to the cross? 
 John is determined that all the world shall 
 know. ? The Jews cried out, saving, If 
 thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's 
 friend; whosoever maketh himself a king, 
 speaketh against Caesar." My lord Pilate 
 is not proof against this insinuation. He 
 can not face the possibility of losing his 
 office. " When Pilate, therefore, heard that 
 saying, he Drought Jesus forth. * * * 
 Then delivered he him therefore unto them 
 to be crucified." John has stamped Pilate 
 as a weak, vacillating and selfish ruler; and 
 his portrait, marked with these features, 
 has been transmitted, to all ages. 
 
 Paul and his Detractors. 
 
 Perhaps none of the great characters of 
 New Testament times were so beset by foes 
 of all kinds as was Paul. He has himself 
 
 assured us that he was often in perils from 
 
206 TOt anfc Ibumor of tbe JBtblc. 
 
 his own countrymen, and in perils from 
 false brethren. He was denounced by 
 priests and scribes, and opposed by upstarts 
 in the very churches he had founded. In 
 replying to arguments and meeting objec- 
 tions he sometimes showed his mastery of 
 more than one form of wit, — although the 
 form he most frequently used was irony. 
 
 By many his preaching was characterized 
 as " foolishness." There was nothing in it 
 to commend it to the Jews who " required a 
 sign," or to the Greeks, " who sought after 
 wisdom." 'Very well," is his reply, "fool- 
 ish it may be, but after all it has accom- 
 plished more than either Jew or Greek has 
 been able to do for the world. c Where is 
 the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is 
 the disputer of this world? Hath not God 
 made foolish the wisdom of this world?' 
 What has it achieved? Where are its monu- 
 ments? r For after that the world by wisdom 
 knew not God, it pleased God by the foolish- 
 ness of (just such) preaching (as mine) to 
 save them that believe.' This foolishness 
 has lifted men from vile and sinful lives into 
 righteousness and honor. Have your own 
 
Gbc Xiec of Ridicule in tbe iKicw Testament. 207 
 
 way about it, Greeks and Jew6; I will be 
 accounted a fool if you will, and am willing 
 to let my words be stigmatized as folly; but 
 you a\ ill find that r God hath chosen tbe 
 foolish things of the world to confound the 
 wise; God hath chosen tbe weak things of 
 the world to confound the tilings that are 
 mighty; and base things of tbe world, and 
 things that are despised bath God chosen; 
 yea, and things that are not, to bring to 
 nought things that are/ I accept tbe low 
 estimate you put upon me and my work, 
 but I triumph over you and your work, 
 however exalted. Results shall determine. 
 This is glorious folly!" 
 
 In writing to the Corinthians, he says of 
 certain members of the church who thought 
 that in spiritual things they were superior 
 to himself, "Xow some are puffed up, as 
 though I Avoid d not come to you. But I 
 aa ill come to you shortly, if the Lord will, 
 and will know, not the speech of than which 
 an puffed up, but the power." 
 
 To those thus puffed up, he addresses 
 himself in the following ironical strain: 
 "Xoav ye are full, now ye are rich; ye have 
 
208 rat anD Ibumor of tbe JGfble. 
 
 reigned as kings without us; and I would 
 that ye did reign, that Ave also might reign 
 with you. For I think that God has set 
 forth us the apostles last. * * . * We 
 are fools for Christ's sake, hut ye are wise 
 in Christ; Ave are weak, but ye are strong; 
 ye are honorable, but we are despised." 
 
 He denounces certain teachers who were 
 sowing the seeds of discord among his 
 churches, as "false apostles, deceitful 
 workers, transforming themselves into 
 apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for 
 Satan himself is transformed into an angel 
 of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if 
 his ministers also be transformed as the 
 ministers of righteousness; whose end shall 
 be according to their works." Such teachers 
 as these pronounced Paul a fool and did 
 everything to bring his work into contempt. 
 "Very good," says Paul to the Corinthians, 
 K receive me then as a fool," and then pro- 
 ceeding, with his favorite irony, "For ye 
 suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are 
 wise ! " 
 
 How scathing is his rebuke to those who 
 misrepresented his doctrine: :f We be 
 
Zbc Use of iRtMcuic in tbe Mew (Testament. 209 
 
 slanderously reported, and some affirm that 
 we say. Let us do evil that good may 
 come! — whose condemnation is just/' 
 This is his only answer to evil tongues. 
 
 It is conceded by the besl authorities that 
 Paul did not write the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, but there is a passage in that 
 letter not unlike him, — the rebuke to those 
 who ought to he strong", manly and intel- 
 ligent Christians, but who have not ye1 
 gotten out of their swaddling clothes: 
 "For when for the time ye ought to be 
 teachers, ye have need that one teach you 
 again which be the first principles of the 
 oracles of God; and are become such as 
 have need of milk and not of strong meat. 
 For every one that useth milk is unskillful 
 in the word of righteousness; for he is but 
 a babe. But strong matt belongeth to those 
 that are of full age, even those who by reason 
 of use have their senses exercised to discern 
 both good and evil." 
 
 Similar to this is Paul's treatment of the 
 Corinthians when they were divided in their 
 allegiance, some claiming to belong to one 
 teacher and some to another. First Paul 
 
210 vait anfc Ibumor of tbe ttible. 
 
 himself had been there and taught among 
 them in that broad and liberal spirit which 
 always characterized him. lie made very 
 little of forms and ceremonies, and very 
 much of charity and brotherhood. Then 
 came Peter who was always more narrow 
 than Paul, but very intense. Paid was a 
 broad river, Peter a mountain torrent. Peter 
 never completely freed himself from the 
 bondage of the Jewish system, and he in- 
 sisted upon some of the things that Paul 
 discarded. Soon a party was formed. Some 
 thought, no doubt, that Paid was too far 
 away from the Jewish creed, that he was 
 not strict enough, that it was perhaps safer 
 to take Peter as a guide; so Avhile some 
 said, "I am of Paul," others said, w I am of 
 ( Vphas." Then came Apollos who is de- 
 scribed as being " very eloquent." When 
 he stood up to speak, many said, "He beats 
 both Paul and Peter; I am of Apollos." So 
 there were "envvings and strifes and divis- 
 ions." Paul ridicules the Corinthians for 
 these childish quarrels, and says that he 
 must still speak to them as to "babes/* "I have 
 fed you with milk and not with meat; for 
 
Cbc XXec of Ridicule in tbe iRcw (Testament. - 1 1 
 
 hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither 
 tj< t now are yt able!" 
 
 Examples from other Apostles. 
 
 The epistle of James that has furnished 
 illustrations for some of the preceding chap- 
 ters, shall yield one for this, in its notice of 
 a grave abuse that existed in the early 
 churches, and that has not entirely died out 
 of modern churches. 
 
 K My brethren, have not the faith of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, in 
 respect of persons. For if there come into 
 your assembly, a man with a gold ring, in 
 goodly apparel, and there come in also a 
 poor man in vile raiment; and ye have 
 respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, 
 and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good 
 place (Take this high-priced and fashiona- 
 ble pew, where you can listen to the gospel 
 in luxurious ease, and at the same time daz- 
 zle the eyes of those in neighboring pews 
 with the latest fashions), but say to the 
 poor, Stand thou here, or sit here under 
 my foot-stool (or go up in the gallery), are 
 
212 xuit ano * urn or of tbe JGfble. 
 
 ye not then partial in yourselves, and are 
 become judges of evil thoughts?" 
 
 Peter silences certain ones who com- 
 plained of persecution, by saying, ff If ye 
 are reproached for the name of Christ, happy 
 are ye (that is nothing to complain of), but 
 let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a 
 thief, or as an evil-doer, or as a busy-body 
 in other men's matters (if any one of you 
 suffers in such a character, he deserves the 
 lash)." In either case, there is nothing to 
 justify your outcry. 
 
 He also denounces certain ones who have 
 forsaken the right way and gone astray as 
 " wells without water, clouds without rain 
 that are carried of a tempest." They 
 "speak great swelling words of vanity, 
 promising liberty while they are themselves 
 the slaves of corruption." And then he 
 fastens the reproach of their apostasy upon 
 them with what Falstaff would call a " most 
 unsavory simile," — ff It is happened to them 
 according to the true proverb, The dog is 
 turned to his own vomit again, and the sow 
 that was washed to her wallowing in the 
 mire." Such are those who turn back to 
 error from the paths of truth. 
 
Zbc tlsc of TRiMculc in tbc iRcw Testament. 218 
 
 Tn much the same strain does elude write 
 to the same class: "These are spots in your 
 feasts of charity 5 clouds withoul water, car- 
 ried about of the winds; trees whose fruit 
 withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked 
 up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, 
 foaming* out their own shame; wandering 
 stars to whom is reserved the blackness of 
 darkness forever! " 
 
 John wrote to the Laodiceans: " r I know 
 thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot; 
 so then because thou art lukewarm, and nei- 
 ther cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my 
 mouth. Thou sa} est, I am rich and increased 
 with goods, and have need of nothing; and 
 knowest not that thou art wretched and mis- 
 erable and poor and blind and naked!" 
 
 The Laodiceans needed the familiar 
 prayer of Burns : 
 
 " O wad some power the giftie gie us, 
 
 To see oursel's as ithers see us ; 
 It would frae mony a blunder free us, 
 And foolish notion !" 
 
 They needed a look into the glass of Lao, 
 which revealed the blemishes of the soul, 
 how fair soever the exterior. 
 
214 -edit anfc Ibumor of tbe JBiblc. 
 
 Christ's Use of Invective. 
 
 Even more severe than his apostles in his 
 use of denunciation, was the Great Master 
 himself. In his controversies with the rec- 
 ognized religious leaders of his day, he 
 heaped eoals of fire upon their claims and 
 teachings and practices. 
 
 :? Ye leave the commandment of God and 
 hold fast to the tradition of men," he says 
 to the Scribes and Pharisees; and then adds, 
 with terrible irony, f ' Full well ye reject the 
 commandment of God, that ye may keep 
 your tradition/' Surely, when the com- 
 mandments of God were placed side by 
 side with rabbinical glosses, they were in 
 an extremely cruel position! 
 
 Xo passage of invective, in any litera- 
 ture, is more crushing than this: f AVoe 
 unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! 
 for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven 
 against men; for ye neither go in your- 
 selves, neither suffer ye them that are 
 entering to go in. Woe unto you, Scribes 
 and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass 
 
Che TH&e of IRtCnculc in the IRcw (Testament. 215 
 
 sea and land to make one proselyte, and 
 when he is made, ye make him two-fold 
 more the child of hell than yourselves. 
 * * * Woe unto yon, Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' 
 houses and for a pretense make long prayers; 
 therefore ye shall receive the greater dam- 
 nation. * * * Woe unto you, Scribes 
 and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make 
 clean the outside of the cup and platter, but 
 within they are full of extortion and excess. 
 Blind Pharisees! cleanse first that which is 
 within the cup and platter, that the outside 
 of them may be clean also! Woe unto you, 
 Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye 
 are like unto whited sepulchers which, in- 
 deed, appear beautiful outward, but within 
 are full of dead men's bones and all unclean- 
 ness. Even so ye also outwardly appear 
 righteous unto men, but within ye are full 
 of hypocrisy and iniquity. * * * Woe 
 unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, for ye are 
 as graves which appear not, and men walk 
 over them and are not aware of them." 
 
 But not only the leaders, but the people 
 also, fall under his lash. "'The men of 
 
216 Mit ano Ibumor of tbe JBlble. 
 
 ^uneven shall rise up in judgment with this 
 generation and shall condemn it, because 
 they repented at the preaching of Jonas; 
 and behold a greater than Jonas is here. 
 The queen of the South shall rise up in the 
 judgment with this generation and shall 
 condemn it; for she came from the utter- 
 most parts of the earth to hear the wisdom 
 of Solomon; and behold a greater than 
 Solomon is here! "When the unclean spirit 
 is gone out of a man, he walketh through 
 dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. 
 Then he saith, I will return to my house 
 from whence I came out; and when he is 
 come, he findeth it empty, swept and gar- 
 nished. Then goeth he and taketh with 
 him seven other spirits more wicked than 
 himself, and they enter in and dwell there; 
 and the last state of that man is worse than 
 the first. Even so shall it be also unto this 
 wicked generation ! " 
 
 Upon another occasion, he upbraided the 
 cities in which he had wrought and preached. 
 "AVoe unto thee, Chorazin; woe unto thee 
 Bethsaida; for if the mighty works had 
 been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have 
 
Cbc TH0C of iivioicuic in tbc Hew CTcatament. 217 
 
 been done in von, they had a great while 
 ago repented sitting in .sackcloth and ashes. 
 Bui it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and 
 Sidon at the judgment than for yon. And 
 thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to 
 heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell!" 
 
 Does it seem strange that such language 
 should have come from the lips of Jesus? 
 Should we not rather have expected it from 
 the stern Baptist, Ins forerunner, who 
 denounced the "brood of vipers" that came 
 to his baptism? Is it inconsistent with that 
 spirit of love which we believe to have been 
 the distinguishing characteristic of Christ? 
 But love is not mere invert ebral amiability 
 or moon-faced complacency. By as much 
 as love is strong and true, by so much does 
 it seek, at any cost and by any means, to 
 remove the faults and follies of its object. 
 If the lash be needed, the lash it will take. 
 "He who has never experienced the affec- 
 tionate bitterness of love," says V. W. Rob- 
 ertson, "who has never known how earnest 
 irony and passionate sarcasm may be the 
 very language of love in its deepest, saddest 
 
218 lUit ano f>umot of tbe JBiblc. 
 
 moods is utterly incapable of even jinl 
 this passion!" 
 
 Here the writer's task ends. The subject 
 may be capable of much more elaborate 
 
 treatment; it would be claiming too much 
 to suppose that these chapters exhaust it. 
 The writer trusts, however, that he may 
 have suggested a line of study to others, 
 as it was first suggested to him. The 
 poetry, the dramatic portions, the oratory of 
 the Scriptures, are unsurpassed. Viewed 
 simply as a literary work, the Bible is the 
 most interesting in the whole realm of let- 
 ters. It becomes increasingly interesting, 
 as its great human elements are recognized. 
 Over history, biography, and most serious 
 discourse, play the soft gleams of healthful 
 humor and the lightning-like bolts of sar- 
 casm and wit. The book touches human 
 nature at all points. The more we view it 
 as "literature," the less as "dogma," the 
 firmer will become its hold upon the heart 
 of man. 
 
 That these fragmentary studies may help 
 
Zbc "Wee of Ridicule in tbe iflcw (Testament 219 
 
 some one to appreciate his Bible better and 
 enjoy it more, is the writer's wish. He may 
 also express, in closing, the hope that who- 
 ever has taken the trouble to read these 
 pages may have found them tree from that 
 which lie disclaimed at the outset — irrever- 
 ence; as he believes them to be free from 
 the other extreme, superstition. 
 
Date Due 
 
 V* - 
 
 •I)